Born to be Wild

As devotees of the brand will be aware, Miu Miu – often considered Prada’s playful little sister – is so-called after designer Miuccia Prada’s childhood nickname. With this in mind, the Italian label’s hallmarks include a spirited approach to dressing up, a boy-meets-girl sensibility and a stream of fascinating fashion references. While retrospection is at its core, Prada is adept at putting a wholly modern twist on her Miu Miu muses.

A champion of unconventional beauty, Prada doesn’t just create looks each season, she sends characters down her runway. For FW18, her cinematic eye whisked us back to the 1950s – via the 1980s – where we meet a rockabilly girl gang, decked out in stonewashed denim, distressed leather, fluffy mohair knits, heritage checks and high-shine PVC booties, swinging sequined handbags by their sides. While the mood of the collection has an authentically vintage feel, the silhouettes, textures and color palette feel so right-now.

A killer PVC coat adds a contemporary twist to a pair of retro, micro-checked wool pants. Matching PVC booties, which are cut low and buckled at the front, lend a vampishness that is tempered by a coolly androgynous cotton T-shirt. Similarly, a green floral print, bustier-style midi skirt feels subtly sexy under a checked wool coat with oversized sleeves.

When it comes to after-hours style, this same spirited sense of masculine-feminine, era-blurring elegance sees a pretty, ruched, turquoise floral dress elevate a boyfriend jacket in stonewashed denim. This multidimensional look is completed with a dancefloor-ready sequined belt bag and those go-with-everything PVC booties. This must-have boyfriend jacket proves once again that it’s the perfect piece to add a masculine edge to a girlish outfit. This time in a cool distressed leather, it’s shrugged on over an ultra-feminine mohair knit and orange leather mini-skirt. Decadent gold hoop earrings and white fluffy socks lend a quirky finishing touch.