Punk sci-fi vibes at Prada’s spring/summer 2025 show at Milan Fashion Week

Swathes of aqua green satin, a material that has long been a staple of Prada’s creations, covered the seats in the show venue, matching the colour of the runway, but the shiny and glossy fabric barely made an appearance in the show.

Instead, pierced and grommeted distressed leather, shiny silver metallics, sturdy wool and sheer fabrics dominated a collection that had the slightly perverse undertones Prada is synonymous with and was accompanied by sinister techno music.

You can just picture Miuccia and Simons looking at the floral-printed dress that opened the show and turning its prim and proper innocence on its head by shaping its shoulder straps into protruding forms rising from the model’s shoulders.

That same subversion was evident in the punk vibes of the omnipresent hardware and in the space-age elements that had a touch of sci-fi, ranging from alien-like sunglasses to hole-punched garments.

Accessories varied from a version of the Belt bag in a buckle shape – some came with gold belts – and shoes that harked back to Prada’s remarkable footwear repertoire, including the colourful rope-soled creepers that were a huge hit more than a decade ago.

Nautical touches and a few ladylike outfits instantly recognisable as Prada added a bit of familiarity to a show that was just as much about looking forward as it was about looking backward: the past and the present coming together in a remarkable collection that, as the show notes put it, embodied “a plurality of Prada, elements from different eras coexisting simultaneously to challenge any theory of chronology”.