Miu Miu Leans All the Way Into Minimal Uniform Dressing
FKA Twigs closed Miu Miu’s spring 2023 show wearing a black micro mini with massive utilitarian pockets, black leather hybrid flip-flop boots that stretched all the way up to her knees, and a gray ribbed sweater with a white button-down underneath. The look of utilitarian ’90s minimalism was at this collection’s core, and dominated through a subverted lens of uniform dressing that merged the past and present—through a stilted, cyborg lens.
Of course, it wouldn’t be Miuccia Prada’s doing without a twisted edge. Even the most basic of basics were given the Mrs. Prada take: including the first few muted neutral dresses, composed of layered, tissue-thin t-shirts. Next came lightweight, ’90s-era parkas with drawstring hems and unzippered bottoms—constituting a part-boiler suit, part-futuristic uniform. Mrs. Prada has experimented with the idea of uniform dressing for years, sure. But here—combined with the styling, the set, and the off-kilter proportions—it looked almost eerie, as if an algorithm (or a time traveler) had generated it.
The collection, at its center, was a vision of past and present, strange and familiar, new and old. The distressed leather utilitarian belts that wrapped around waists read as a punkish apocalyptic shield, as did the oversized leather vests with chunky, beaten-up pockets. Elsewhere, the nylon bras with buckles in the front and crepe-y leather button-down tops in pale yellow and slate gray felt like a retro-futuristic take on how an outsider would interpret a school uniform in the early 2000s.
Further upholding the idea of past and present was the immersive set. Guests sat on black, rounded, tubular benches and video screens projected space-inspired images of stars and moons, as well as abstract symbols like apples, designed by the Chinese artist Shuang Li. “Shuang Li’s work explores this tension between the material and the immaterial, and the obfuscation thereof—the physical bodies of what we commonly think of as immaterial material sent via digital platforms,” the show notes read. “The messages lost in transmission do not just disappear, but rather, imagined here, can take on another form, punctuating the sky.”
Miu Miu has experimented with the minimalist look steeped in micro minis, buttons-downs, and boyish trousers for the past three seasons. But for spring 2023, it really felt like Mrs. Prada fully leaned into the minimalist’s gaze. More toned-down menswear also strode down the runway, and many of the pieces felt suited for any gender. Aside from a few of the faded tees and skirts layered in crystals, and two sheer looks covered in glassy sequins, the collection was virtually free of ornamentation—no jewelry, barely any makeup, and simplistic, neutral leather bags carried as clutches or swung tightly over the shoulder.
For the hardcore, years-long fans of Miu Miu, seeing clothing with zero prints and no ornamentation may feel like losing a part of the brand. But it also feels like a homecoming of sorts. After all, Miu Miu was founded in the early ’90s, and in its early days—even up to the 2000s—thrived on minimal design. It’s impossible not to notice the similarities between the chunky pocketed skirts of spring 2001 versus the ones Mrs. Prada sent down the runway today. With more and more brands going back to the archives, the time is right.
