Miuccia Prada’s visionary legacy, the billionaire designer who changed fashion forever: ‘Ugly is attractive, ugly is exciting … ugly is human’
Miu Miu founder, art-lover, ‘half-communist’ billionaire … as the fashion visionary behind Prada’s modern reinvention turns 71, STYLE celebrates the life and legacy of founder Mario Prada’s granddaughter Miuccia, through her most memorable quotes
Who would have thought that Mario Prada, who founded the eponymous brand Prada in 1913 as a leather goods brand, was initially against the idea of women in the family meddling in business matters?
Nevertheless, his granddaughter, Miuccia Prada, inherited the company in 1978 and has turned it into a leading force of fashion – since designing the iconic nylon bag to expanding the label into the luxury empire that it is today.
A visionary inspired by books, art, science and cinema; a designer who loves unpredictability, and one who embraces her own contradictions – described at times as half-communist, half-capitalist – we turn to Prada for her advice and lessons on creativity, art and fashion.
As she turns 71 on May 10, we celebrate her life by looking at some of her most memorable quotes over the years.
On being true to oneself and one’s voice
Prada is the trend, they say, and she is also one of the most copied designers. Yet she shrugs off the issue, stressing that, “the job is to do something interesting with ideas” – and if this idea isn’t original and isn’t true to one’s intentions, then it simply won’t work, as she said in an interview with The New York Times.
In the early days of her career, Prada shared how she would listen to what everyone would say, but in the end, it served no one. Admittedly shy and reserved, she decided on a subtly political approach to fashion, until she learned the importance of having a strong voice. “As much as I can I want to be more political, more vocal,” she told Another Magazine. “Even though I know the limits of being a rich fashion designer with jewels … But still, I need to be more proactive for the good.”
Using fashion shows as an example, Prada explained how these events are purposely both realistic and fantastical. With an audience perennially distracted and stimulated by a lot of things, how does one capture their attention? Be it in fashion or self-expression, “You need to exaggerate or nobody understands what you are doing,” she explained.
