Prada Puts the Skirt First, and the Foreign Critics Take Note

The Guardian reported this week that skirts took star billing at Prada, as the house swerved trousers and dresses during Milan Fashion Week. The collection again pairs Miuccia Prada with the Belgian designer Raf Simons, a combination the paper describes as spinning gold for the fashion house.

The Guardian's fashion desk grounds the reading in Prada's own uniform: a knee-length skirt, A-line or pleated, most often worn with a plain sweater and kitten heels. The collection, in that account, takes the designer's personal formula and makes it the argument of the show.

Milan Fashion Week is one of the moments each year when the foreign press writes about Italy through its clothes. This season the British coverage chose the skirt as its subject, and treated the choice as a statement rather than a silhouette.