Last week in Milan, we saw Prada’s Co-Creative Director Miuccia Prada get philosophical, asking us to consider the notions of free will in a digital age; so is it any surprise that the same designer’s younger brand, Miu Miu, would match Prada’s vibe? Since maturing at FW24, when Miu Miu showed a collection that blended the aesthetics of multiple generations both young and old, the brand’s now entering its political era, revealing a collection today in Paris that asked us to consider how we can navigate truth in a post-truth era.
Like a teen hitting a blunt at a party and asking “can we talk about the political and economic state of the world right now,” Miu Miu appears to be gradually ageing out of its adolescence, swapping pleated mini skirts for thought-provoking themes about the distribution of truth and misinformation right now. Writing in her show notes, Creative Director and founder of the brand, Miuccia Prada commented that her SS25 collection, titled Salt Looks Like Sugar is set “in the context of the post-truth era, where the boundaries between fact and fiction are increasingly blurred.”
Hosted against the backdrop of an installation designed to look like the inside of a newspaper printing plant, Miu Miu’s SS25 show invited guests to venture into the factory where its fictional newspaper The Truthless Times is printed, with printing press projections all over the walls and newspapers drying on spinning racks above the runway. With the likes of Camila Cabello, Barbara Palvin, Daisy Ridley, Tom Bateman, and Jang Won-young on the FROW, the show kicked off in the style it's become known for: with a short film on the theme of the collection premiering before the first model stepped onto the runway.
This season, Miu Miu incorporated a multi-layered project developed by Goshka Macuga which involved the show’s opening film, titled The Truthless Times. The film followed two characters, Pathos and Logos (who are originally of Aristotle’s invention) working as undercover researchers in a newspaper printing plant. In the short film, they’re discussing the complexities of truth in their work when a conflict arises that derails the conversation. Basically the whole video is an allegory for how misinformation spreads when we hear from two sides: that of Logos, the symbol of logic and reason, and Pathos, who represents emotion.
Following Goshka Macuga’s short film, the real show kicked off bringing to Miu Miu’s collection to the runway on the likes of actor William Dafoe, rapper Little Simz, internet personalities Lena Mantler and Noen Eubanks, and a familiar face for Miu Miu, model Amelia Grey. Each of their looks pulled on a variety of different aesthetics, combining to create a kaleidoscope of styles made up of sporty hoodies, tailored blazers, feminine dresses, and seventies prints.
Plenty of looks were still hyper-femme, delivering a taste of Miu Miu’s familiarly unapologetic girly style, seen in paisley dresses, white frocks, and mesh pinafores with frilled hems. White shirts layered beneath sweaters featured broderie details on the collars and cuffs and glittering mosaic sequins were sewn in the shapes of flowers; however, these were contrasted with the collection’s sportier elements, like colour-blocked windbreakers, retro sneakers, and funnel neck zip-ups with scrunched sleeves.
Cotton body-suits with giant, circular cut-outs offered an avant garde take on a wardrobe staple, whilst the Art Deco meets mid-century modern prints seen on some of the collection’s later looks were a blast from the past, perhaps meant to remind us of the good old days, when misinformation didn’t spread like wildfire and truth wasn't constantly in question. Leggings also got a revival on the runway, something we’re not sure if we’re ready for. These throwback pieces aren’t new to Miu Miu though, considering that the brand always likes to blend silhouettes and styles of clothing from different eras on its runway.
Accessories followed this theme of retro revival, bringing oversized sunnies to the runway in a spectrum of bright shades, and even some shades that looked like they were worn upside down. Thick, glittering chain belts were worn layered on top of each other in some looks, adorned with gem-stones which glinted in the light as models' hips moved. In addition, a familiar accessory on the runway was Miu Miu infamous bedraggled hair, which was back-combed into flyaway baby hairs and unkempt half-pony-tails.
As is to be expected, Miu Miu delivered when it came to its luxury leather goods, revealing an array of bags on its SS25 runway spanned from familiar favourites fans of the brand would easily recognise to soon-to-be-icons that brought something new. And footwear unveiled peep-toe and pointed toe heels with swinging bows at the back as well as flat, open-toed mules, all worn with skin-tight leg warmers (pretty much just socks without the feet).
Miu Miu’s SS25 show set out to make us think about the truth in a post-truth era, explaining in its show notes that its main aim was to encourage its audience “to critically reflect on the role of individual investigation and expression in shaping public discourse, and to consider how the freedom to share narratives can be both a tool for empowerment and a site of conflict in the broader struggle over truth and meaning in contemporary society and its future evolution.” But with William Dafoe and Little Simz on the runway, the main truth we took away from Miu Miu’s SS25 show is that it went extremely hard.
Featured image via Miu Miu©
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