Miuccia Prada is as opinionated as she is fashionable!
The fashion icon recently sat down with Newsweek for an explosive interview on a variety of subjects including models, being sexy, her struggle with the fashion business, and reveals what success really means to her now!
Although we already knew that she├óΓé¼Γäós a fashion force to be reckoned with, we didn├óΓé¼Γäót know that she├óΓé¼Γäós a budding mentor on feminist rhetoric that once “hated” fashion!
Here are some HIGHlights:
On her hesitation to participate in the MET retrospective Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations:
“On one side, I’m very happy. On the other, it’s very scary because it’s someone else’s interpretation. But I decided that of course I’m super happy.”
On her subversive entry into fashion:
“I didn’t want to be restricted to the rules [of high fashion]. I was looking at the colors and homes and other places and elements that were not part of the elitist world of my clients. I also struggled instinctively against the cliché of a beautiful, rich woman. I have nothing against a beautiful, rich woman—just the cliché of it.”
On her struggle between her job and being a feminist:
├óΓé¼┼ôI realized my job is to define├óΓé¼ΓÇ¥well not to define because that├óΓé¼Γäós so pretentious├óΓé¼ΓÇ¥but to understand: What does it mean? Beauty, today, for a woman? I hated it. I was a feminist in the ├óΓé¼Γäó60s and can you imagine? The worst I could have done was to be in fashion. It was the most uncomfortable position … And I had problems for so many years; only recently I stopped.├óΓé¼┬¥
On why she embraced fashion:
├óΓé¼┼ôI realized that so many clever people respect fashion so much and through my job … I have an open door to any kind of field. It├óΓé¼Γäós a way of investigating all the different universes: architecture, art, film. I also realized people respect me because I├óΓé¼Γäóm good in my job.├óΓé¼┬¥
On her unusual approach to design:
“I do clothes in theory. I tend not to try the things on the models. Deep down, I’m not interested if they look good on the body or not. Not even myself.”
On the real meaning of fashion & being sexy:
├óΓé¼┼ôI think probably people confuse fashion with being beautiful or being sexy or attractive.Very often people use it as a [tool], not as pleasure. I always say sexy dressing is fantastic if it├óΓé¼Γäós a choice … If you want to go out naked, I like it. But if you do it because you want to get a rich husband, no, I hate it.├óΓé¼┬¥
On casting models:
“The same model would be in Versace and the press would say, ‘Oh [Gianni Versace] uses the most beautiful models.’ And me? They were exactly the same. The same fantastic women are in my show, and they say they’re not beautiful, Of course, I tend to dress them more modestly.”
Whew! In case you ever wondered, now you know how she really feels about fashion!
What do U think about Prada’s view on fashion?!!
[Image via AP Images.]