The house of Prada is long known for reinvigorating fashion. She has played with minimalism, projected alternative future couture, toyed with fantasy, redefined "the jet set." And until Fall-Winter 08, reinvented gender.
Her Fall 08 menswear collection shocked some, awed some, and put some in confusion. Why in the world would men wear a tutu-like skirt, a halter-looking vest, and a belt that closely resembles a bikini bottom or in the words of one editor, a "chastity belt?"
I intitially considered the collection a shocker. It is very unconventional--it is definitely not your typical shirt-and-pants ensemble. But I also considered it as a creative and imaginative pursuit. Who would have thought that men--in Prada's world or possibly in another dimension--could wear halter tops? be effeminate and fragile? be the new woman?
Miuccia Prada could be sending a message, you know. She may be suggesting that fashion is so tired of being a one-way street: an institution that favors women as the primary object of attention, and the primary customer. She seems to ask what could make menswear as inventive and avante-garde as womenswear.
Then again, she could be proposing that men discover their feminine side.
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