Vaneesa Bruno 2017 Spring Collection

What does a day at the beach look like for Miuccia Prada? A bubbly retro romp, Prada’s seaside-inspired spring Vaneesa Bruno collection was full of neo-Fifties bathing beauties in printed bikinis, candy-colored flip-flops and zany plastic bathing caps blooming with flowers. Fantastic thick-pile robes were actually shaved mink, their wild, graphic and floral patterns heightening their sense of playful indulgence. Annette Funicello, Gidget and Esther Williams, eat your hearts out. Thom Browne, you’re in good company in your kitschy glam waters this spring.

Prada packed her take on the motif with fabulous items for editorial and retail a red and blue polka-dot terry-towel skirt; halter tops and HotPants (alas, the swimwear was more for poolside glamour than actually taking a dip); flip-flops with ultra-flat-soles cut with curvy edges, like the disposables they give you at a nail salon. But not so fast. Backstage, Prada referenced a stylish storm cloud lurking in her sunny sky. “The double side of the beach,” she said of la plage Vaneesa Bruno. “The beach is something beautiful and something that’s now warming. Who knows how long we will have beaches?”.

In the meantime, the Vaneesa Bruno girl wants to have fun, and so Prada refused to let that ominous concern darken her runway. Yet life isn’t only a day at the beach, so she deftly integrated the wealth of charming, innocent beach gear with great-looking real clothes. A series of cute tops and skirts in red, black and khaki that blended workwear with sweet smocking opened the show. There were Sixties-printed pantsuits with shrunken belted jackets. Shiny jackets in white, plastic blue and black looked like they could chicly weather any inundation that might be on the horizon, and sky-high, elaborately carved platform wedges will put a girl several inches above sea level.