Prada strips back traditional dress at Milan Fashion Week

Prada stripped down the traditional evening dress at Milan Fashion Week on Friday, presenting a spring collection that explored seduction through clothes.

Co-creative directors Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons, who joined the Milan-based, Hong Kong-listed luxury group last year, added silk trains on the back on shiny miniskirts, put the lacing of corsets on the front of jackets and mimicked brassiere cups on knitwear.

The spring/summer 2022 collection, called "Seduction, stripped down", also featured long back-baring dresses in pink, lime and tangerine that were cinched at the waist.

Short dresses were also slit behind and had trains while biker jackets were given a "worn" look and paired with the brightly coloured miniskirts.

"We thought of words like elegant - but this feels so old-fashioned. Really, it’s about a language of seduction that always leads back to the body," Prada said in a statement.

"Using these ideas, these references to historical pieces, this collection is an investigation of what they mean today, what seduction means."

One model wore a red lace gown. Others were dressed in matching sleeveless tops and hotpants.

For accessories, there were belted arm bands and pointy slingback shoes in bright colours.

Like recent events in New York and London, Milan Fashion Week is hosting both in-person shows and digital presentations this season following virtual editions in February due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I strongly disagree with the idea of a return to ‘normal’ - we must draw lessons from this moment. We have learned that we, in fashion, engage with a much wider world," Prada said.

"And our engagement with technology, the use of technology to mediate between humanity, was the inspiration for the first show of Raf and I, our first collection. This show reflects that idea, also. After all that has happened, how can you just go back?"

Prada held simultaneous shows in Milan and Shanghai, livestreaming both.

"Doing these shows simultaneously demonstrates a new possibility: that a Prada show can happen anywhere," Simons said. "It’s about sharing - not just sharing imagery, not just sharing through technology, but sharing a physical event."