Prada toys with classic styles in 2016 spring-summer collection

The downturn in the Asia-Pacific market has taken its toll on Prada, which announced earlier this month a 23 per cent fall in net profit for the six months to the end of July. So Miuccia Prada is hoping to win back the faithful with her spring/summer 2016 collection, which played with the classics but in Prada’s typically subversive way.

She reworked a boxy skirt suit by toying with stripes, collaging her fabrics and slipping a sheer dress layer over a check skirt (a concept she has worked on before). Contrast piping on seams, sharp pleats and a defined contrast in fabrics and colours heightened the linear effect, so an oversized boxy jacket actually looked quite slim. She gave the collection a luxurious look by inserting metallic stripes into her coats and panelling suede and patent leather in her coats. Although a summer collection, there were even furs. The drop-waist dresses were similarly graphic and in a beautiful mix of fabrics.

The collection came with a wealth of accessories, from the Christmas bauble earrings to the intriguing fishnet neck pieces that, over the course of the show, developed into luxurious bibs trailing beading and large shiny paillettes. The shoes were just as constructivist in concept as the clothes - low-heeled with ankle strapping - while the bags echoed the stripes of the clothes in bold combinations.