The giveaway was the first shirt on the Miu Miu catwalk, the one with the big magic mushroom. Perhaps Miuccia Prada herself had had a little nibble, because what followed was positively psychedelic. As her signature line s younger sibling, Miu Miu has always represented a certain spirit of reckless youth and freedom for Prada—and this season she took that attitude on a trip. It wasn t just the mushrooms. There were also banana motifs (for those who remember the mellow-yellow sixties), little Indian mirrors all over shirts and ties, and the huge eyes of an Eastern deity staring out from chests and backs. And don t forget the flower-appliquéd flat cap and the patchwork pants and the shorts that looked like they d been cut from the Brady family s curtains. If the eccentric decorative elements suggested an outsider artist run riot, that was merely in keeping with Prada s own magpie aesthetic. It s all about borrowing from any time, any place, to give vital character to clothing—and what a character the Miu Miu man will be!
