Miu Miu puts together a youth-led movement to redefine beauty as something real, imperfect and moving.
If you think Miu Miu is still just Prada’s “little sister”, think again. Women may remain central to the it-brand’s narrative, but Miuccia Prada’s most recent exploration of the “feminine” and “beautiful” for SS24 highlights the gender-less beauty of vulnerability, and the chic cool of apathy in the face of the daily pressure to perform and conform.
In look, it’s a collision of the preppy, swimwear and evening-wear — vintage-looking shirts, polo tees and blazers are worn over super-short frou-frou petticoats, while notoriously low-hanging and heavily-belted bermudas and skirts reveal Speedo bands and their drawstrings. Coach jackets barely hang onto bare bodies, while Church’s Shanghais and the latest collaboration New Balance 530s contrast an onslaught of summer sandals, curiously adorned with neon plasters.
These clothes aren’t even new; each are wardrobe staples even your anti-fashion crowd is familiar with. They work as novelties because they are worn not correctly, but by time. Pre-loved and lived-in. School uniforms are infallible proofs of when we were castaways or misfits, a ‘real’ version of ourselves we never had to perform before the surveillance of societal expectations — just be.
That’s why everyone can see themselves in Miu Miu’s boys and girls. After 30 years of soigné sensuality, Miu Miu’s new definition of beauty is storm-swept, greasy ‘dos and top handle bags spilling with paraphernalia; sombre black opera coats and glamourous gold-foiled or brocade dresses — all at once. The epitome of a woman — and by extension the youth — is one who is perpetually in a state of unrest, “exploding and shrinking”, and above all, living, breathing, aging, and real.
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