Prada-Simons dialogue launches in virtual Milan preview

Milan designers skirted the line between the virtual and the physical Thursday, taking lessons learned in lockdown to create new collections that are relevant in a reshaped world. That is new at least for me.’’ Highlights from Thursday’s shows during Milan’s hybrid fashion week of mostly womenswear collections for Spring-Summer 2021: MIUCCIA PRADA AND RAF SIMONS DIALOGUE BEGINS The Raf Simons-Miuccia Prada collaboration was always going to be a dialogue between the designers -- two of the most respected in the industry. Simons said the Prada uniform ‘’is not literally as we perceive them when we hear this word, not army or police uniforms, but effectively true metaphorical ones.’’ The designers said their collaboration was an easy one -- despite lockdown delays -- that saw their vision strengthened when it was backed by the other. ____ MAX MARA’S RENAISSANCE Max Mara gave Milan Fashion Week its physical bearings, with a runway show around the porticoed courtyard of the Brera Painting Gallery, safe from threatening skies. VIEN designer Vincenzo Palazzo offered an optimistic message on Thursday, emblazoning the runway with the neon message: ’’Make Fashion Wonderful Again.” The looks played with deconstruction and clashing moods, offering peek-a-boo detailing more to show off Millennial tattoos than skin, fluffy skirts made out of gathered tulle and pretty floral dresses contrasting with jackets reconstructed into structural gathers and ruffles.