Michigan Avenue - Niche Media - Michigan Avenue magazine is a luxury lifestyle magazine centered around Chicago’s finest people, events, fashion, health & beauty, fine dining & more!
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/641712
82 michiganavemag.com PhotograPhy courtesy of Prada top-handled lady purses; steroidal hardware and chains thick enough for tugboats; and the continuing evolution of the Inside Bag. That "Mrs. Prada," as industry insiders call her, commands universal respect in fashion is somewhat ironic, given that it was a world she was reluctant to join. Consider: She is likely the only fashion grandee with a doctorate in political science. Probably the only former Communist Party member with five years of mime training, too. It was not her ambition to take over Fratelli Prada, the luggage company her grandfather founded in 1913. Yet, in 1978, she taught herself design, and, seven years later, launched a range of instantly iconic black nylon handbags. Now, Prada boasts more than 600 boutiques in 70 countries, and turns over some $4.65 billion every year. Still, integration wasn't easy. From her first full collection, in 1989, Prada refused to do things the "correct" way. "By definition, good taste is horrible taste," she says. "I have a healthy disrespect for [conventional] values." Prada helped subvert Milan fashion— which then was all "good," glitzy taste—with elegant, understated stylings and unfussy shows, an attitude that continues to serve her today. Says the designer, "Fashion fosters clichés of beauty, but I want to tear them apart." 30 E. Oak St., 312-951-1113; prada.com . "By definition, good taste is horriBle taste." —miuccia prada Prada's women's store enjoys pride of place at the heart of the historic Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan. right and below: Backstage glimpses of Prada's Donna Resort 2016 and Uomo Spring 2016 collections. STYLE TasTemaker