Prada Puts the Skirt at the Centre in Milan, and a Southern Mill Watches

Miuccia Prada opened Milan Fashion Week by building her collection around the skirt rather than trousers or dresses, according to the Guardian, which gave the garment star billing in its review of the show. The paper reported that Prada's own uniform is a knee-length skirt, A-line or pleated, most often worn with a plain sweater and kitten heels, and that the collection with Belgian designer Raf Simons once again spun gold for the house.

The Guardian framed the choice as a formula rather than a novelty: begin with a great skirt. In a season where Milan's calendar is watched closely by foreign buyers and press, the decision to sidestep both trousers and dresses gave the collection a clear silhouette to argue about.

For Basilicata, the story is not the runway but the cloth. The region's small textile and tailoring firms sit at the far end of a supply chain that Milan's houses animate, and foreign coverage of Italian fashion is one of the few international registers in which the south's manufacturing still appears.