What we can learn from Miu Miu - Prada’s teenage sister.
PUBLISHED 12.06.24
WRITTEN BY avivalyn
Ballet flats and mini skirts. Miu Miu has taken the world by storm with its viral playful, but chic products. The luxury brand, founded by the inheritor of the Prada empire, Miuccia Prada, has been captivating fashion-holics since its inception in 1993. Yet, it has only reached a broader audience in recent years.
Miuccia Prada’s Miu Miu (named after her family nickname) is the more youthful, rebellious, and slightly more affordable sister brand to Prada. With the freedom of being the creator of something new, Miuccia’s imagination and innovation has been set free.
While Miu Miu’s connection with Prada immediately bestowed the brand with reputation and resources, Miu Miu was left overshadowed by its larger, older sister company for many years.
The world first saw Miuccia Prada’s unconventional vision in 1993. The spring/summer collection featured a cow-girl theme, with fringing, suede, and prairie style skirts - ready for frolicking in a meadow!
The company remained commercially viable due to its relation to Prada, but Miu Miu was not really commented on critically during the 90s - making it difficult for it to become a fashion powerhouse.
To see how the brand has become so renowned today, let’s take a look at Miu Miu over the years…
Growing a loyal customer base, the early 2000s were when Miu Miu really began to blossom. The Fall - Autumn for us Aussies - Winter show of 2002 really cemented the Miu Miu vision and Miu Miu and Prada were begun to be understood as separate entities. Both fashion houses are remarkable but distinct, nonetheless. Miu Miu became associated with its motifs of collars, 60s inspiration, stripes, baby pink, mini skirts, and a youthful take on fashion.
Still slowly but surely building its reputation, the nearing of Miu Miu’s first showstopper design was signalled in the Spring Summer show of 2008. This show featured designs cohesive to the brand’s previous - short skirts, exaggerated collars, striking patterns, and innovative styling and silhouettes. However, the manipulated leather seen in the accessories of the runway was the inception of the brand's ever-so-popular gathered leather bags. These bags were first seen on runways in 2009, and their success has been growing ever since.
In the early days of the COVID-19-ified world, Miu Miu took to the slopes to showcase its FW21 collection. Set in the panoramic, piercing Dolomite Mountains of Italy, the brand took social isolation and winter fashions to a new level. With the collection shot on film, Miu Miu elicited a sense of eerie nostalgia, with bright, mismatched clothing set against pearly summits. Typical snow styles like balaclavas and quilted coats were seen - yet, in much more vivid colours than the typical black, grey, navies of practical clothing. Among these were scarves tucked into knitted bikini tops, leotards, eccentric tights, and layers upon layers. Yet again, Miu Miu were showcasing their modern and youthful philosophy, solidifying Miuccia Prada’s ethos.
Miu Miu
Now, the distressed mini skirt. This is what thrusted Miu Miu into the public eye. The skirt, featured in the Spring Summer 2022 collection, with its deconstruction, frayed hems, and rebellion, was a subversion of the fashion house’s typical design style, pleated skirts and Italian tailoring. Boosting the virality, Miu Miu sent this mini skirt out to almost every magazine, celebrity, and influencer to ensure all of us saw it, loved it, bought it, and styled it - and, that's certainly what happened. There was an abundance of dupes produced of the skirt to allow the masses to follow suit of their favourite celebrity at a much more affordable price point.
Miu Miu’s FW22 featured many traditional autumnal motifs, such as plaid, earthy hues, layering, leather, and argyle. The infamous mini skirt made a comeback along with menswear being reintroduced. Once again, this runway captured the public's attention with its mingling of athleisure and traditional clothing and, of course, its ballet flats. Unlike the plain, flimsy ballet flats we know from the 00s-10s, Miu Miu’s were unafraid to lean into the very phrase. Much more structurally sound, these ballet flats are reminiscent of pointe shoes, again, creating an intriguing crossover between athletic wear and clothing you would wear to work. The shoes have seen a similar virality as their sister, the frayed mini skirt. Thanks to Miu Miu, the ballet flat is most certainly back - with many iterations, from many different brands, seen walking the streets two years on from Miu Miu’s collection.
Highlighting the surge in popularity for the brand, the shopping app Lyst outlined in their 2023 ‘Year in Fashion’ report that searches for Miu Miu were recorded to have a remarkable 39% year-over-year increase.
Miu Miu has gone through a myriad of changes, transgressions, and acclaims over years. From being an offshoot passion project to one of the biggest fashion houses of today. This goes to show just how much perseverance, innovation, and individuality can bring us - even if we have to maintain patience.
Do the thing you want to make into a thing. Work hard, be different, be patient.
“You cannot do something just for the money. You have to do things you believe in and eventually you will make money.”