Looks from Prada’s autumn-winter 2016 women’s collection at Milan Fashion Week. Photo: Reuters

Prada joins the ‘buy from the catwalk’ trend in Milan

Fashion house’s Pionniere and Cahier bags immediately available in select shops in Europe and the US. Asian customers can buy them after two weeks

Francesca Fearon

Published: 10:45am, 1 Mar 2016

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It’s a hot topic right now among fashion brands and Prada is the latest to weigh in on the debate about the timings of the shows and the growing trend for see now, buy now straight off the catwalk. Two bags at Prada’s Milan show this week are immediately available at certain stores in Europe and the US and will be coming to Asia in a couple of weeks.

A look from Prada’s autumn-winter 2016 show at Milan Fashion Week. Photo: EPA

The sporty looking Pionniere, mainly inspired by a hunter’s bag, and the Cahier, inspired by ancient books with bronze-coloured elements will be available hot off the Prada catwalk.

Autumn-winter 2016 looks from Prada in Milan. Photo: EPA

The Prada collection itself was a complex look that seemed to ask more questions than answer them, but you cannot second-guess what Miuccia Prada is thinking. There was a ’50s spirit to the silhouettes with big skirts and loose tops tightly cinched with half-corsets and sturdy belts, but there was also a lot of outerwear worn simply with diamond patterned hosiery and, rather incongruously, white sailor hats.

A look from Prada’s autumn-winter women’s collection at Milan Fashion Week. Photo: EPA

Trinkets and mini bags hung from necks and belts like Victorian chatelaines.

There were beautiful fabrics including bright red, green and gold brocades, dark velvet, fine wool checks and silk pieced together like collages, with prints including other-worldly landscapes by illustrator, Berlin-based Christophe Chemin.

It was eminently wearable, but quite what it meant remains to be revealed.

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