The final day of Paris Fashion Week’s Spring Summer 2022 season started with rain as attendees hailed cabs to get to Chanel for a 10am start. But by the afternoon, the skies had cleared and the mood had lifted, right in time for Miu Miu’s always always sure to be fun and playful 2pm show. Collaborating with Moroccan artist Meriem Bennani, Miu Miu “interrupted rather than transformed” the interior of the Palais d’Iena, home to its first real-life runway presentation in 18 months. Bennani installed binocular-shaped screens to cut through the space to project her films, as a white-lit runway weaved its way through. Online, thousands watched the live stream, which was interspersed with snippets of faux front-row audience reactions and clips of Bennani throughout, including a skit about Brazilian Butt Lifts which aired before models walked the finale.
Prada is now co-creatively directed by Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons. But Miu Miu’s founder, who named the house after the nickname close friends and family have called her since she was a child, has kept her baby close. People often refer to Miu Miu as being a younger brand than that of Prada, but increasingly that divide hasn’t been about age, per se, it’s been about a mentality. On Instagram, Miu Miu’s bio fittingly reads, “Girl at heart,” and in recent years, the house has attracted the likes of fresh, interesting celebrities such as Elle Fanning, Emma Corrin, and Em Emhoff.
While the two houses’ collections have similarities (if you like Prada, you probably like Miu Miu, and vice versa), they still manage to be consistently unique in their offerings. On Prada’s runway in Milan just over a week ago, mini skirts were aplenty in color such as pink, green, orange and yellow. But at Miu Miu, these skirts were pleated low-rise, uber micro-minis. And rather than being paired with long-sleeve turtlenecks, they were paired with micro-crop tops, showing models’ bare stomachs from their waist to their bra line.
The show opened with a model wearing beige low-rise suit pants and a jumper, giving us a taste of what was to come: a lot of neutral colors in tan, beige and grey, and a lot of low-rise in the form of trousers, skirts and shorts. If there’s one thing the Miu Miu girl needs next season, it’s a good reformer pilates studio to tone their soon to be on display stomachs that would make even an early aughts Britney blush.
The influx of low-rise—oftentimes revealing the waistband of the brand’s logoed briefs—was usually paired with micro jackets and cropped shirts that ended just below the bra line. One model wore simply a black bralette.
Miu Miu is known for its fun and flirty nature and pops of color came in the form of a lime green cocktail crystal-embellished dress and light blue mini dresses in the same design (most perfect, the Miu Miu girl leaves her socks on even when heading to party).
There were lashings of leather throughout, including jackets paired with leather mini-skirts (low-rise, but of course). Then for the sparkles: beaded floral motifs popped on dark grey dresses and on silk skirt and shirt combos, embellished suits and floral-embellished oversized jumpers.
As they made their way through the maze on the lit-up runway, models wore school-like black loafers with grey knee-high socks or kitten heels, reminiscent of going back to school, or back to the office, as most people are soon to be heading. Some held black bags with crystal-embellished handles, a nod to the current trend of phone String Tings and over the top sparkly accessories, while others held oversized leather bags under their arms.
Less than half an hour after Miu Miu’s show finished, the skies opened up again and it was back to grey for the rest of the day. But at least there were Miccuia-infused sparkles left in our mind’s eye to get us through.
