Australia's next top Miu Miu

miu miu FW1314 via wwd.com

Cassi van den Dungen missed out on winning Australia’s Next Top Model in 2009. But she has just achieved something that has so far proven beyond the grasp of any actual winners of the high rating Australian reality show: she just walked the Miu Miu show in Paris.

Fantastic four

antonio marras SS12 backstage/sonny vandevelde

Here are four key members of the new Australian modelling force that has been powering ahead on the runways of New York, London and now Milan for the Spring/Summer 2012 season, as documented by frockwriter over the past fortnight. Shot backstage by Sonny Vandevelde at yesterday's Antonio Marras show, they are, from left: Dempsey Stewart, Caitlin Lomax, Codie Young and Rose Smith. There was a fifth Australian in the same show, not pictured here - Chrystal Copland. All under 21, in demand and having the time of their lives, they are among at least 31 Australians who have been carving up the SS12 show circuit, on many other occasions walking in the same shows. Milan Fashion Week is, however, missing one promising Australian newcomer, Krystal Glynn. The very same model who claims that she recently turned down Italian luxury brand Prada for its Resort 2012 lookbook and campaign, who made an impressive debut at New York Fashion Week and in whom sources say there was significant casting interest in both Milan and Paris. Where is Glynn? Back home celebrating her 17th birthday and a camping holiday with her family. Lomax, meanwhile, scored not only the Prada Resort lookbook, apparently in Glynn's place, but a slot in Prada's SS12 runway show, alongside Abbey Lee Kershaw and Julia Nobis.

Elliot Ward-Fear's bottom line

Elliot Ward-Fear’s profile is completely disproportionate to the size of his business. In fact the 22 year-old Sydneysider has yet to snag a single stockist. Given that he only graduated from TAFE NSW last year, that’s not so hard to grasp. But that hasn’t stopped pieces from his spectacular 'Beauty In Exile' debut collection, which was unveiled at Rosemount Australian Fashion Week in May, finding their way into two episodes of Australia’s Next Top Model, this month's ARIA awards and even an audience with Miuccia Prada. When your stocks-in-trade are 18cm microsuede booties and gargantuan, stalactite-like Lucite jewellery, people tend to notice you. Having a publicist doesn’t hurt of course - and he's had one of those since June. Next week Ward-Fear is going to be flat chat. First up, he will unveil his Autumn/Winter 2011 ‘Spirit of Clothing’ collection at press showings in Sydney. Here is an exclusive preview of that collection, which includes some quite beautiful dresses, such as this pretty, deconstructed tennis dress in fondant pink and white and the intricately-seamed caramel wool bodycon dress, above and below, which boasts a curious cutaway panel at the derrière. The latter is designed to be worn, we are told, with a full, flesh-coloured brief - as white hot new Australian model Codie Young will discover later next week when the Vogue Australia September covergirl shoots Ward-Fear's first lookbook in Brisbane with Thom Kerr. 

Prada's curve ball: Fall/Winter 2010/2011 video

Frockwriter talked about the unusual casting this morning. Here is Prada’s video of the Fall/Winter 2010/2011 show if you haven't seen it already, or missed the live stream. And on closer inspection, with all the full-skirted dresses, A-line skirts and Princess line coats – the wardrobe staples of many fuller-figured women (you only have to check the best-selling merchandise of antipodian brands Easton Pearson and Trelise Cooper, which cater specifically to the mature customer) - the brand’s casting strategy makes a whole lot of sense.

Not that there is anything remotely middle aged about the Victoria’s Secret Angels.

But their hyper “sexy” figures, which have placed them at the top of the modelling industry by way of earnings, as distinct to high fashion cachet, make them a little closer to regular women, with breasts and bottoms. As distinct from the androgynous, barely pubescent teenagers who have dominated the runways for the past decade.

Indeed, Dutch bombshell Doutzen Kroes, one of Prada's Victoria's Secret Angels, is one of several high profile models who have dominated fashion coverage over the past fortnight - over the fact they have been excluded from the runways due to issues of weight. On the eve of New York Fashion Week, at a CFDA body image initiative, Kroes told reporters that she rarely does shows because, although she might have done so when she was "11 or 12", she doesn't fit the current runway sample size.

Also on the eve of New York Fashion Week, the well documented weight struggles of Australia's own Gemma Ward were the focus of a 2500 word feature in The New York Post. And Canadian Coco Rocha was on the record with The New York Times saying:

“I’m not in demand for the shows anymore”

Although she was quoted directly in the NYT, on her blog, Rocha later claimed the story was a beatup. Only further confusing matters by admitting:

"in another parallel universe I'm considered "fat"

Presumably, that parallel universe is fashion.

Backstage, Prada talked about going back to the brand’s heritage (there’s that word again). The sexy secretary vibe and Sixties homewares graphics certainly did that.

The braided beehives seemed inspired by both Mad Men (although Miuccia Prda reportedly claims she's never watched it) and the stylish Ukrainian PM Yulia Tymoshenko (a connection previously noted by Bryanboy after Prada’s FW0809 collection).

But it also reminded frockwriter of Prada’s SS08 show, which we clocked in person.

Much was made at the time about the casting of full-bosomed Lara Stone, who also hails from the Netherlands, with many outlets heralding a return of curves to the runway.

Stone seemed somewhat larger two years ago than she is now. To wit, we distinctly recall overhearing backstage model gossip about the first casting she attended in Milan that season. “Jaws dropped” we were told, when Stone entered the room, such was her relative bulk compared to the other ectomorphs.

It is well worth noting that, two years down the track, Stone has just graduated to world number #1 on models.com.

Prada bumps an all skinny cast to include Victoria's Secret Angels - and four Australians

prada fw1011/getty

Yesterday there were whispers that the Prada cast in Milan might “shake the earth with surprise”. Frockwriter wondered if that might mean Miuccia Prada was planning to include plus sized Crystal Renn? Not quite, but fascinating casting nonetheless and it involves a hell of a lot of Australians. Yes the fashion world was gobsmacked by Balenciaga’s inclusion of Miranda Kerr in its Spring/Summer 2010 show in Paris last September. Well just as frockwriter hinted Kerr might make an appearance in Milan, she has just walked in Prada, alongside two other Victoria's Secret Angels, Doutzen Kroes and Allessandra Ambrosio, not to mention Kerr's compatriots and Chic stablemates Catherine McNeil and Abbey Lee Kershaw. And not forgetting Australia’s hottest new modelling star, Priscilla's Julia Nobis, who, as we reported, scored a Calvin Klein exclusive in New York last week and powered along at London Fashion Week this week, walking for a handful of top shows, including Burberry, Richard Nicoll and Topshop Unique - opening the latter two (and just dubbed a breakout star of the season by New York Magazine). Here is Prada's complete cast list.

None of the Victoria's Secret contract Angels are "plus sized", so let's just put things in perspective here. They are all thinner than "average" women. But they are more voluptuous than your "average" high fashion models, which is why they are in high demand for lingerie and swimwear work.

Catherine McNeil however, interestingly, has not done runway shows for several seasons - because, it has been claimed, she gained weight.

This is not a victory for plus sized models. But it is nonetheless a very interesting move in an area of fashion that is known for its draconian weight regulations and one that is no doubt about to be discussed at length.

Lock, stock and three smoking aliens

campaign brief

Super cool campaign from Sydney ad agency Kastner & Partners for Fisher Space Pens, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Created by Darryn Devlin and Dan Foster with photography by Sean Izzard and retouching by Cream, the campaign depicts three smartly besuited aliens, each bearing a Fisher Space Pen in their breast pocket. The tagline reads, “Civilizing space since 1968” (the year the pens were first used by NASA for Apollo 7). The Fisher Space Pen became indelibly linked with the US space program after Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong used one to fix a broken switch on the lunar module, allowing them to return safely to the space capsule after their historic moon walk. Given that the aliens resemble Ozwald Boateng-outfitted gangsters from Guy Ritchie's 1998 Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, frockwriter is not sure where civility fits into things. But interestingly, the campaign follows the release of Prada’s SFX-heavy Fall 2009/2010 lookbook (below), for which animal heads, abstract sculptures and graphic designs were Photoshopped onto the heads of several models.




campaign brief




prada FW0910 lookbook via fashionologie

Prada goes to war

prada FW0910/fashionologie


You've got to love the speed at which the FW0910 collections coverage is moving. And I'm not just talking about the Twitter dispatches - from which we have learned over the past 24 hours that the Recession continues to impact on showgoer numbers, including the foreign press. And that Alessandra Facchinetti may be cooking up Tom Ford's new womenswear line. Approximately two hours after the Prada show, a UK Telegraph video was up showing not only the hair & makeup preparations, but show footage. Myf Shepherd scored her second Prada show (1.00 into the video below), also Marni and Gucci, in what is emerging as an even bigger sophomore runway season for the 17 year-old Australian.

Click here to see the complete collection on wwd.com.

Miuccia Prada told reporters backstage that the collection was a take on the country – and there were certainly plenty of sturdy pastoral tweeds, ribbed knit cardigans and rich tapestry brocades. Not forgetting the Wellington-look boots, complete with curious leather suspenders - the most extreme version being a to-the-hip style that was a dead ringer for a rubber fisherman's wader, but which, as it turns out, is definitely leather. On the horizon for some time now, the over-the-knee boot trend has reached its apotheosis this season.


prada FW0910/fashionologie

Luxury abounded in businesslike crocodile briefcases and an abundance of fur, which picked up from Prada’s ‘sauvage’ FW0607 collection and was seen in everything from gilets to dresses, cardigans and bags.

But this Prada collection also boasted a very definite WWII austerity vibe. Two cases in point, the predominance of boxy tweed suits with strong shoulders and wide lapels and even the hair, which to frockwriter’s eye looked far less ‘roll in the hay’ as some have suggested, and more Victory Roll. Named after a fighter pilot manoeuvre which celebrated victory in battle, the Victory Roll became the iconic coiffure of the 1940s.

There was more than a little fight in this Prada collection, as evidenced in the boxing arena-style seating, the spectacular studded gladiators - which included a Mary Jane with a studded upright fringe that looked like the defensive collar of an Australian Frilled Neck Lizard in fight or flight mode. And of course, the richly embellished finale of gladiator-style studded ribbon dresses.


prada FW0910/fashionologie

But if the clothes were Bolshie, the models seemed less so. As they gathered en masse in the centre of the Prada ‘ring’ at the close of the show, at least one observer noted that they looked too thin.

Loving Marie Claire Australia's Twitter coverage, but can't help wondering if their Prada advertisers are going to love the latter comment.

Wassup?

elite paris

Once again, it’s hard keeping up with Oz modelling news on the OS catwalks. Below is an updated showlist from Wednesday’s post which revealed that no less than 11 Australian girls were in New York last week. Chic Management’s Myf Shepherd led the NY charge with an impressive 20 shows. Now comes word via Grazia – that’d be the very high profile UK edition (and thanks to Chowder for the headsup) – that Chadwicks’ Georgie Wass (pictured above) is a face to watch at London Fashion Week, which is now underway. According to Grazia, the 19 year-old redhead from Sydney has been confirmed for Topshop, Jaeger, Christopher Kane, Richard Nicoll and Armand Basi… “and then she's going to Milan on exclusive for Prada!”. Which pretty much guarantees that Wass probably won’t be walking in Prada. Which would be a shame, so we hope we are wrong.

Prada’s casting director Russell Marsh is notorious for his guerilla casting tactics.

A Prada exclusive often means that noone knows about the exclusive until it happens – and the model involved tends not to have been seen anywhere else that season (a case in point, Gemma Ward).

Many girls are optioned for Prada shows. And urban fashion legend has it that Marsh is prone to dropping girls as late as the show's hair & makeup stage – if he discovers that they have blabbed about the gig.

In September, coincidentally, after Kiwi Olivia O’Driscoll’s agent talked to a NZ newspaper about O’Driscoll flying to Milan for an alleged Prada exclusive, which we reported, O’Driscoll did not turn up on Prada's runway.

With other local names boasting London and/or Milan showcards, expect to see Abbey Lee Kershaw, Alexandra Agoston-O'Connor and Tallulah Morton popping up very soon (22/02: see updated lists with London shows, below).

For the moment Alice Burdeu appears to be MIA.

Feel free to add to, if frockwriter has missed anything, as we track their season.

Myf Shepherd
Brian Reyes (opened)
Jason Wu
BCBG Max Azria
Lacoste
United Bamboo
Adam Lippes
Diane Von Furstenberg
Erin Fetherston
Donna Karan
Marc By Marc Jacobs
Max Azria
Philosophy
Michael Kors
Phillip Lim
Devi Kroell
Zac Posen
Julian Louie
Verrier
Academy of Art University
L'Wren Scott
Topshop Unique
Sinha-Stanic
Armand Basi One
Christopher Kane
Aquascutum
Betty Jackson
Jaeger
Richard Nicoll
Luella (closed)
Giles
Julien Macdonald
Issa
Paul Smith Women (opened)
Louise Goldin

Catherine McNeil
Ohne Titel
Alexander Wang
Preen
Diane Von Furstenberg
Carolina Hererra
Thakoon
Matthew Williamson
Derek Lam
Narciso Rodriguez
Isaac Mizrahi
Zac Posen
Giles
Julien Macdonald
Issa

Skye Stracke
Brian Reyes (closed)
Joseph Altuzarra
Mulberry
Karen Walker
Thuy
Akika Ogawa
Oscar de la Renta
Basso & Brooke
Nathan Jenden
PPQ
Nicole Farhi
Anne-Sofie Back
Paul Smith Women
Issa
Mary Katrantzou
House of Holland

Stephanie Carta
Narciso Rodriguez
Phillip Lim
Rad Hourani
Staerk
Matthew Ames
Vena Cava
Tuleh
L'Wren Scott

Bridget Malcolm
Lela Rose (opened)
Miss Sixty
Marc by Marc Jacobs
Andy & Debb
David Delfin
Toni Maticevski
Tory Burch
Vera Wang
Cynthia Steffe
Elise Overland
Nanette Lepore
John Rocha

Shanina Shaik
Yeohlee (opened)
Shipley & Halmos
Abaete
Mara Hoffman
Lorick
Project Runway
Trovata
Richie Rich

Chelsea Scanlan
Shipley & Halmos
Chocheng
Ideen
Mara Hoffman
Tuleh
Vivienne Tam

Tallulah Morton
Noir
Graeme Black
Jasper Conran
Paul Costelloe

Georgie Wass
Topshop Unique
Nicola de Main
Noir
Danielle Scutt

Rosie Tupper
Lela Rose
DKNY
Nanette Lepore
A Détacher

Christina Carey
Rad Hourani
Joseph Altuzarra
Vena Cava
Tuleh

Julia Ikonomou
Andy & Debb
Twinkle
Custo Barcelona

Alexandra Agoston-O’Connor
Noir
Kinder Aggugini
Jasper Conran

Jethro Cave
Anastase

Vanessa Milde
Toni Maticevski

Zanita Whittington
Josh Goot
Alexandra Groover

A Miu Miu, a Miu Miu - they still all fall down

miu miu SS09/style.com

And there I was, having a SS09 debrief with Oz shoe guru Matt ‘Imelda’ Jordan earlier this afternoon, saying how fascinating it would have been to be a fly on the wall at Prada over the past two weeks. And if, keen to avoid yet more bad press over model stacks in killer heels, Prada might have done an eleventh-hour switch of shoes for the show of its diffusion label Miu Miu. Because dang, how terribly sensible the shoes of last night's Miu Miu show in fact appear to be, by comparison with some of the other footwear monstrosities that we have seen on the past month’s runways. Overlooking the nouveau pauvre-look burlap uppers of course. As it emerges however, what happened to the very last girl modelling the very last look of the very last show of SS09?

According to the testimony of The Guardian’s Hadley Freeman via her virtual Style.com alterego:

“As the last girl was going backstage she yes, fell down onto the catwalk, to many sympathetic gasps. You definitely knew that this was the season of the extreme shoe and I knew at that point that it was time to go home”.

And if that’s not funny enough – in a very macabre way of course – then have a look at Style.com’s just-posted portfolio of runway images from the Miu Miu show.


miu miu's relatively 'sensible' - but apparently still unwearable, SS09 shoes/style.com

If this sequence of images is as per the show, then the very last girl of the Miu Miu show was none other than Russian Yulia Kharlaponova (pictured at the top of this post).

That’s right, the very same girl who famously fell directly in front of the camera pit during last week’s Prada show in Milan – images of whom, AOT on Prada's fish mosaic of a runway floor, wound up splashed over newspapers across the globe.

A lucky escape then for Australia’s Myf Shepherd who was, according to the Style.com images, the fourth last girl in the Miu Miu show.


myf shepherd, miu miu SS09/style.it

Isn't Miuccia Prada supposed to be a feminist?

Have a look at the poor model in this video. Yes it’s from Prada, prompting one fashionwatcher (tks Bianca) to suggest, “This is worse than Yulia’s”. This refers of course to the spectacular Prada runway stack, on Tuesday, of up-and-coming Russian model, Yulia Kharlapanova - who has emerged from her sophomore runway season an inadvertent poster victim of fashion misogyny.

Kharlapanova was one of several girls who fell during Prada.

Unlike the others however - and indeed, Abbey Lee Kershaw at New York’s Rodarte show earlier in the month - Kharlapanova conveniently fell in full view of the photographers’ pit and the images went all around the world:


sky

Rodarte and Prada are just two of many runway shows in which models have either stumbled, or fallen, this season.

Yesterday veteran Angela Lindvall, who has been modelling for 12 years, fell twice in the space of five minutes at Pucci.

Lindvall told The UK Telegraph:

"I feel so embarrassed. I've never fallen before and now I go and do it twice in the same show. I don't think the platform soles were balanced properly."

But while many continue to claim that a cabal of gay men rule the fashion world, both the Prada and Rodarte brands, curiously, are designed by women.

One of them – Miuccia Prada – is a political science graduate, a former member of Italy’s Communist Party and a self-avowed feminist, who told The Independent in 2004:

"You know, I had to have a lot of courage to do fashion, because in theory it was the least feminist work possible - and at that time, in the late Seventies, that was very complicated for me. Of course, I liked it a lot but I also wanted to do something more useful."

Like designing crippling shoes for women in which they risk breaking not only their ankles, but their necks?

If Prada’s femdar appears to be in need of a little calibration these days – then let’s hope that at least her public liability policy is up to date.

Prada's new supernova: Myf Shepherd

prada SS09/style.com

Well, well, well. All that speculation about Myf Shepherd being on hold for Prada was on the money. There she is in not only last night's Prada show shots from Milan - but on page one of the very high profile style.com website today. No Olivia O'Driscoll unfortunately, which is a blow to NZ, but that's a fantastic get for Shepherd. Snubbed, as frockwriter previously reported, by the ANTM producers for a slot on this year's show, Shepherd really is Australia's next top model.



page one, sep 24, style.com

And Prada might not be the end of it.


missoni SS09/style.com

Shepherd's other Milan shows to date include Missoni, Jil Sander and Gianfranco Ferre. According to her Sydney agent Kathy Ward moreover, the 17 year-old year 12 student from Brisbane is now also confirmed for the Gucci and Fendi shows.


jil sander SS09/style.com

This places Shepherd in the elite runway league - straight off the bat.

Shepherd's spectacular international runway debut season has embraced over one dozen top New York shows, including both Marc Jacobs and Marc by Marc Jacobs and London shows including Luella Bartley and Issa.

"You know what is really extraordinary? She has been modelling since February" noted Ward. "Catherine McNeil had been modelling since she was 13. Abbey Lee Kershaw had been modelling since she was 15 [ie when McNeil and Kershaw made their international runway debuts in Feb 07 and Feb 08 respectively]. Myf literally has just started modelling and to have such prominent bookings is really very unusual".

Shepherd and Kershaw appear to be the only Chic Management girls still standing on the European runways.

Ward reports that Catherine McNeil is unwell and will miss Milan and most likely Paris. Sarah Stephens will also miss Milan and Paris and is staying is London where she is "on hold for some big campaigns".

Prada's new supernova?

img

For anyone wondering why Olivia O’Driscoll did not turn up in New York this week, there’s a good explanation. The 17 year-old Kiwi who frockwriter profiled in July, could be about to do a Gemma Ward and walk for Prada and Miu Miu.

According to The Dominion Post, O’Driscoll flies to Paris today and “could” be booked for a Prada/Miu Miu exclusive – which means she’ll miss next week’s New Zealand Fashion Week, which kicks off on Tuesday.

However as O'Driscoll's agent, Caroline Barron of Auckland’s Nova Models, told the paper:

“Financially, it was a no-brainer. It is really frustrating because everyone here wants to use her and I feel really embarrassed as NZ Fashion Week is really important to us, but it is important that Olivia is in Paris.”

Prada is headquartered in Milan and the company’s casting director Russell Marsh is reportedly London-based.

Dubbed ‘the model maker’, Marsh is credited with launching the careers of, among others, erstwhile world number one ranked models Gemma Ward and Daria Werbowy and the current world number two, Sasha Pivovarova.

Ward’s international career was launched in September 2003, when she flew to Milan for a Prada and Miu Miu exclusive for the SS04 season.

Earlier this year Marsh was embroiled in a bribery brouhaha, when he was accused of accepting sweeteners from the IMG and Women agencies to place those agencies’ models in Prada’s shows – prompting a rebuttal from IMG.

O’Driscoll is represented internationally by IMG.

But there are of course no guarantees. According to the well-placed modelling sources at The Fashion Spot web forum, O’Driscoll is merely “on hold” for Prada.

Rumours that Australia’s Myf Shepherd is also a Prada possibility might have been quelled by Shepherd’s omnipresence at New York Fashion Week. According to Shepherd’s Australian agent Kathy Ward, Shepherd walked in at least 12 New York shows. Prada tends to like to unearth new talent.

But Shepherd is tipped to do very well in Europe notwithstanding.

The devil wears llama: Prada's alpaca moment

I've always thought it was supposed to be uncool to wear a band's T-shirt to its concert. But there was Paris Vogue editrix Carine Roitfeld this afternoon, when I spotted her hightailing it out of the Alberta Ferretti show in her own bit of Prada homage on the same day as the Prada show: one of Prada's Pocahontas-look brown fringed tunics from the spring/summer 2007 collection, worn over black leggings, violet satin stiletto pumps and just a black sheepskin bomber jacket to keep her warm. Then again Roitfeld does has a driver.

As I blog it's been a few hours since the Ferretti show.

In the interim I've seen Bottega Veneta ('tough chic' grommet-embellished shifts and bustier dresses, with big maribou feather stoles) and Pollini (a Mod nod to the '60s) and am now a throng is waiting for Prada to start. The 7pm Prada show to be precise.

As with a few of the bigger brands here, Prada has two shows, back-to-back.

When the shows are on, the entire street outside Prada's show venue swarms for several hours with fashion folk, all trying to squeeze through a ludicrously small doorway manned by three burly security guards. There are a couple of cafes across the road which do a roaring trade at these times of the year. I'm in the same one I was in this time six months ago and it's had a bit of a refurb in the interim - apart from swish new silver tables and chairs (actually I preferred the grungy old ones), they've installed poker machines next to the loo.

Two tables away from me sits Italian eccentric Anna Piaggi, she of the gazillion garish getups and contributor to Vogue Italia.

Piaggi's way too cool for a Prada homage on the show day. She's wearing a pair of black and white harlequin pants, a black and white maxi cardi with tribal face intarsia motif across the back, a matching B/W mini top hat cocked to the side atop her blue-tinted grey mop of hair - and enough face powder and rouge to put Marie Antoinette out of business.

I do believe Piaggi is having a beer. I'm having a hot chocolate - which, as anyone who has ever ordered such a thing in Italy would know, has the consistency of warm chocolate cake icing. This is my seventh show today - six of them without tickets. Believe me, I need the sugar hit.

The 6pm show crowd starts to emerge and the 7pm'ers are all off, out of the cafe and into the Prada melee.

"Trying ... to... get... through... the... door" stutters one fashionista to her friend as the crowd surges forward.

"What the hell would happen if there was a fire?" mutters another.

Once inside I ask a mate who saw the first show, "What's the theme?".

"Futuristic" he replies, which surprises me given that so many of the fashion pack went back to the future last season and Prada generally doesn't like to fall into line.

Inside, the warehouse space has been transformed into a sort of sci-fi Coliseum: the seats, white foam cubes, have been arranged in a large circle, and enclosed by a series of large, curved plastic screens in eye-popping safety orange.

"Oh it's EasyJet orange" quips one Brit tv anchor, referring to the UK budget airline (whose livery is not dissimilar to that of JetStar).

The lights go down, the models walk out on the ground-level runway that meanders through the seating by way of a series of black lacquer varnish "tracks" - so glossy that at least one model almost slips over as she walks along.

Although the venue looked sci-fi, and certainly some of the fabrics appear new age synthetic, as it later emerges there's more hands-on craft to their design than manufacturing.

After the first series of suits, coats and shift dresses with plain fronts but boasting back poufs, in a severe grey wool - and the season's by now ubiquitous cape, in Prada's case a cape coat with slashes for the armholes - there's a series of other far more complicated garments.

Almost the entire collection is trompe l'oeil: Glam Rock-look three-quarter-length coats, chubbies and even tanks in what at first appears to be some kind of fur, but which I am later told is whorled alpaca wool.

A series of colour-graduated woollen dresses, sleeveless coat dresses and skirts are transformed from top to bottom with what appears at first to be a spraypaint and blister-look silk applique effect, but emerges is Shetland wool shot with a silk thread that has been 'pulled' out of the fabric, with a layer of silk fused on top. Chubby T-shirts and A-line skirts in bright orange, forget-me-not blue and astroturf green appear to be fashioned from some uncomfortable foam packing material - but which in fact is soft mohair knit painted with an acrylic gaze.

Little black cocktail dresses have literally cock tails: bustles and poufs made from real cock feathers and black plastic paillette strips. About the only garments that are exactly what they seem are the pencil and box pleat skirts with loose, boxy matching jackets in a natural leather.

It's another intellectual tour de force from Prada who, I once read, agonises over whether her new collections are "new" enough each season - and a volte face from the previous day's show by Armani, who has been stuck in the same design rut since the Eighties.

It's also a radical departure from Prada's previous winter's "savage" collection which boasted luxurious fur trims and entire fur backs on garments ranging from parkas to trench coats.

Backstage, Prada flatly denies the anti-fur movement has had anything to do with her fabric choices this season.

A line of wellwishers treks through to give Prada their regards - including Roitfeld who makes a point of drawing Prada's attention to the fact that she's wearing a Prada outfit, making a stupid grin as if to say, "Yeah, Prada advertising this way thanks".

A troika of journos, including me, gathers to prod the normally interview-shy designer - before she abruptly cuts us off.

These are some of the direct responses to my questions:

The material in the "fur" coats was not in fact fur?
Miuccia Prada: Alpaca, something that looked like fur but not fur at all. A very expensive, strange material that nearly doesn't exist anymore.

What was your starting point for the collection?
The idea was to do like fake classics, the starting point was that no shapes, no volume, no couture, something very simple but with interesting material. Material that was completely new - a lot of research went into the material. And also colours.

But it is in fact almost couture-like, since it's a very complicated effect.
Yes but the result should be very strict in a way.

Original post and comments.

Hems pay hip service to the '60s

Well, it's certainly going to be a season for good underwear.

Miuccia Prada might have defended her supra-pubis skirts as mere show ponies intended to be worn as tops out in the real world, but there were no cover-ups going on at Gucci on Wednesday.

Hemlines barely covered the models' derrieres in a collection that, like so many others this season, paid hip service to the 1960s with a series of appliqued micro-sack and baby-doll dresses and waistless shift dresses.

Many of them were rendered iridescent by means of crystal embroidery or multifaceted brocade in the apparently de rigueur spring-summer 2007 tone of space-age silver.

But the Gucci designer Frida Giannini hedged her hemline bets with some floor-length alternatives, notably the finale piece: a striking black tent dress with violet and carmine geometric applique.

Also coming up short was Alberta Ferretti, Italy's queen of ethereal evening chic, whose heavily detailed, full-length georgette gowns are popular choices for the red carpets of international awards nights.

Judging by the number of micro-sack dresses in silver, oyster and gunmetal grey on offer, Ferretti's gala girls may be going the cocktail dress route next year.

After delving into '70s glam rock for winter, the Anna Molinari designer Rossella Tarabini moved forward two decades for spring – a period when today's young women first began scouring vintage stores, she noted backstage after the show.

There might have been numerous skin-tight leather pants and skinny suits, but falling in with yet another theme that first emerged in New York – demi-couture – Tarabini countered those skinny-day looks with a series of draped and heavily embellished rag dresses, many of them festooned with crystals and flower applique.

Keeping with the micro-courtesan look championed last week in London by up-and-coming British name Christopher Kane – who might not yet boast a commercial collection but does happen to consult to Donatella Versace – every last one was ludicrously short.

"People like to show legs," offered Tarabini. "It was almost swimming-suit [length] – I know that."


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