Prada loves paradox. So while a fundamental tenet of Prada, over the years – and in particular since 2020, when Miuccia Prada invited Raf Simons to join her as co-creative director – has been to strip away, there is also a contradictory exploration of complexity. Miuccia Prada titled a collection Minimal Baroque after all – she contains multitudes. Managing to express both those aims, all at once, remains a tricky proposition. But that was what their Autumn/Winter 2026 womenswear show was all about. It was a mesmerising exploration of contradiction, an aesthetic non-sequitur of removing layers of clothes, to add layers of meaning. “The complexity of life,” said Miuccia Prada. “And that inherent complexity of women.”
First of all, the fundamentals: this show consisted of 15 outfits, presented on 15 women, but in 60 different ways. After taking two right turns to circuit the catwalk carved out in the Deposito of the Fondazione Prada, each model changed – in one minute, ten seconds – before re-appearing. The change was, generally, a stripping away of a layer of garments, as if passing through different climates, different times, from public to private spheres. Coats were shed, scarves unwound, dresses discarded. Fragments occasionally peeked out from underneath – a spotted fur, a flash of colour, a fragment of a print of a Romanesque face at the hem of a cotton shift – intriguing first, then revealed as layers came off, to a final denouement. And in these constant reiterations of single women, their characters were revealed too.
It was a masterclass, first in the mechanics of a fashion show – harking back to when couture maisons had a cabine of in-house models, women inextricably associated with their aesthetic realm, their world. The show was titled Inside Prada, which referred, of course, to all those layers, but also threw the focus on what actually was inside, namely the women. Here, they included long-standing favourites like Julia Nobis and Amanda Murphy, and a debut by Bella Hadid. Miuccia Prada has always rejected the idea of a Prada woman – she’s into pluralities, Prada women. This show was full of them, both in terms of the models and the clothes. And you grew fascinated by her, by her intentions, her persona, indeed her life. Or, maybe, lives.
It was also a masterclass in Prada. Simons, as an outside set of eyes inside Prada, said that he is always considering the identity of the label, its ciphers. Here, their expression was rich, multifaceted – multilayered, to risk overstating that point. There was a distinctly Prada take on decoration, in that it was degraded, destroyed, luxury challenged. Satin was faded, as if sun-bleached, embroideries seemed puckered and aged, sometimes hidden under fabric pocked away to reveal, sometimes embellishing the tweedy interior of clutched coats (although, granted, they were reversible). Some dresses in sweet, watery florals were bonded over with black nylon, layers within layers, trapped within, perhaps a pleat or a bow escaping. “We are interested in things which have been defined as beautiful, through history,” Simons also said. “But we seek to redefine them.”
History was present. The show set – like the men’s – was an apparent cratered-out apartment block, floors blasted out either like an exploratory dig or pending demolition – preserving the past, or making way for the new. Contradiction, again. While historical details were still affixed to the layers (again) of walls above nibbled-out floors, this time there were paintings, furniture, tapestries. An ornate mirror sat above a green marble fireplace, like remnants of life. “The layers here are not only layers of history,” said Miuccia Prada. She was talking not of the set, but the clothes – although it’s applicable to both. “They are layers of lives, of feeling, of sentiment.” And those are ideas that have fascinated both her and Simons throughout their careers, reflecting realities of people now and then, drawing inspiration from how they looked but, more fundamentally, how they lived, and shifting that learning into new expression. At its root, and under all the layers, this was a thrilling Prada show, of thrilling Prada clothes that plenty of people will want to get inside.
