On Monday, I headed over to the Prada office in KL for the Prada and Miu Miu press day.

We were first taken through Miu Miu’s Fall/Winter 15 collection. The key theme was the juxtaposition between beautiful and tacky. The collection consisted of prints and silhouettes that were considered as “not beautiful” by Miuccia Prada, which she made a point to include in the collection. These included oversized coats which were common in the 1980s, animal prints (especially leopard), and faux exotic skins, particularly crocodile. Out of all the exotic skins, the only real leather was that of python. The rest – croc and leopard print – were actually made of fabric with a waxed overlay, and with the croc and leopard prints embossed onto the leather. The “tacky” details also included oversized buckles and buttons. In short, Mrs Prada designed an entire collection out of what she considers tacky.

Detail shot of the leopard embossed effect on fabric that was coated with a waxed layer

In contrast, the theme for Prada’s Fall/Winter 15 collection was beauty. When I saw the collection during Milan Fashion Week in February this year, I really loved the colour palette of pastels which reminded me of cupcakes and macarons. It had also been a long time since Prada looked really feminine and girly. Despite being a rather feminine collection, Mrs. Prada called it “fair masculinity” (i.e. feminine masculinity), because at the very root of it all, that’s how she interprets the Prada woman as. As such, the FW15 collection takes inspiration from uniforms, thus explaining the epaulets that she designed by using bows. Ostrich was also a major element – and we were told that the molecular print (that also came in the form of jewel embellishments) that she seemed to focus on was actually a microscopic view of an ostrich’s follicles commonly found on the back of these birds.

For the season, Mrs Prada also created a new material which is a rather type of knit, by combining nylon and cashmere. We all got to feel the material up close, and it was really stretchy. The tweed used in this collection. What appeared to be tweed which either came in chevron or the Prince of Wales tweed, was also not really tweed – it was in fact that was printed onto double jersey (which, to the uninitiated, looks and feels exactly like neoprene).

Stretchy knit and tweed

Bow epaulets and molecular jewel details

Blazer in double jersey with resin and jewel-embellished flower brooch

Molecular print on Saffiano leather bag

Last but certainly not the least, let me introduce you to Prada’s bag of the season, the Inside bag. Aptly named, the bag’s exterior, when unzipped, reveals another bag on the inside, which is made to resemble a man’s Dopp kit (think man clutch complete with several compartments on the inside) in a contrasting colour, sewn onto the inside of the bag.  Despite its boxy shape, its suppleness comes from the “double” (pronounced doo-blay) technique that was first used for the Double bag introduced in early 2014, the nappa leather for this bag-within-a-bag is super lightweight, due to its thickness measuring a total of just 0.7mm. The bag is available various leathers (including ostrich and croc) and in 3 sizes – small, medium, large – all of which come with a detachable long shoulder strap.

While it’s possible to carry the bag with the exterior zipped, the Inside bag is meant to be toted unzipped, with the top of the “outer bag” folded in, to reveal the playful interior in a different colour. If you’re concerned with safety and security, you also don’t really have to worry about getting your valuables pickpocketed because they’d be contained in the inner bag on the “inside” which you would’ve zipped. If you want to portray a more serious look for work, all you have to do is to zip the exterior bag, and you have a minimalist, unassuming bag that’s perfect for work. But, as I am a sucker for any pretty colours, I’d definitely advise you to wear this bag open. If not, it really defeats its purpose.

What do you think of the “Inside” bag?

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Special thanks to the Prada team for extending an invite to me for the press day!

All images by Bag Addicts Anonymous