Quiet luxury takes hold at Prada — and elsewhere in Milan

Fashion’s pendulum is swinging. Designers, having spent the last few years conjuring up escapist, often surreal collections for an audience grappling with a pandemic and a war, and pouring ever more millions into show budgets in a game of one-upmanship, now say they want to engage with reality — and real clothes.

That’s been the thread of the season so far, starting with Proenza Schouler in New York, weaving its way through the collections of JW Anderson and Molly Goddard in London, and picked up by Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons in Milan. It has resulted in collections that prioritise wearability over wow moments, in simpler show sets and reduced guest lists.

“We are very much focused on reality,” Miuccia Prada said backstage after her autumn/winter 2023 show, titled “Taking Care”. The set was spartan, by Prada standards, its burnished concrete floors broken up by red-orange pillars that were crowned with white lilies. “What’s important to me is to value jobs, simple jobs, not only glamour,” she said.

That led to an investigation of work uniforms, elevated with shapes borrowed from eveningwear and haute couture. White nurses’ uniforms became ankle-length dresses with jagged trains, as military garb morphed into parkas with unfurling collars and cocoon backs. Wedding dresses — another kind of uniform, one donned to celebrate love — were reimagined for everyday as full white skirts teamed with suede blazers and plain crewneck jumpers, a riff on Miuccia’s own go-to ensemble.

Branding also took a back seat. The incessant Prada triangle was mostly (though not entirely) exorcised from this collection — another sign that logomania is truly on the way out. The gravitational pull of slim, high-waisted jodhpurs, split a few inches above the ankle, suggested that wide-legged trousers’ days might also be numbered.

Fendi, too, was rooted in the real — specifically in Delfina Delettrez Fendi, jewellery designer and fourth-generation member of the Fendi family who is designer Kim Jones’ leading muse.

“I really wanted [the collection] to be about beautiful clothes that women want to wear,” Jones, who also designs Dior men’s, said before the show. “Looking [again] at things we’re selling really well — tailoring, outerwear, knitwear and dresses.”

That meant classics, with a twist — a trenchcoat lined prettily in tonal sequins; sensible grey trousers enlivened with apron-skirt fronts; halter tops in sheared lamb fur paired with ankle-length velvet skirts. Except for a succession of red and hot-pink evening dresses at the end, the palette was mostly muted, in tones of blue, brown and grey.

Jones’ razor-sharp focus on sellability has been a boon for Dior, where sales have grown fivefold since he joined the house five years ago. While he declined to name figures, he said that Fendi is also growing “a lot”. According to Citi research, revenues reached €2.2bn last year, up 55 per cent from 2019, the year his predecessor, Karl Lagerfeld, passed away.

Problematically, Fendi continues to sell fur even as major brands including Gucci, Chanel, Prada and Burberry have given it up. But there are signs that Fendi’s commitment to fur may be waning. Last year, the company invested, alongside parent company LVMH, in a two-year research initiative at Imperial College London and Central Saint Martins to develop “lab-grown” furs. With the exception of lamb, it was entirely absent from both Wednesday’s show and from Fendi’s last couture show in February.

“[Besides fur,] Fendi is also known for beautiful technique and craftsmanship, and that’s what I’d rather focus on,” Jones said.

Beautiful technique and craftsmanship is also what MaxMara is known for. After briefly, and ineffectively, flirting with sexier, shorter styles, designer Ian Griffiths was back to doing what he does best this season: classic, tonal outerwear and suiting that looked serious, sumptuous and comfortable. A down jacket encased in mocha-coloured cable-knit was a highlight.

The clothes were designed, he said backstage, to “respect the women” who are his clients. That’s a reality I can get on board with.