Prada has never needed much of an excuse to make a skirt interesting, but for their Spring/Summer 2027 collection, Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons decided to make the garment the entire story. At the Milan runway on September 22, Prada reduced fashion’s usual appetite for references and spectacle to one deceptively simple idea: what happens when a skirt gets an entire collection to itself?
The answer was anything but simple. Across the runway, the skirt shifted between severe and seductive, practical and extravagant, familiar and completely unexpected. Pleats expanded into sculptural shapes, crystals caught the light, technical fabrics became surprisingly elegant and slits exposed flashes of lingerie. It was classic Prada territory, but with the dial turned toward movement, femininity and a certain kind of playful excess.
Prada’s Skirt Obsession Returns
“The Skirt” is the title of the collection, and there is something almost audacious about being that literal. Prada and Simons did not build the collection around a decade, a place or a grand cultural reference. Instead, they stayed within the particular language of the skirt and pushed it in every possible direction.
The decision also taps directly into Prada history. Miuccia Prada’s Spring 1996 collection famously challenged conventional ideas of what a fashionable skirt should look like, with wrap and pencil silhouettes in colors such as chocolate, khaki and avocado green. The clothes deliberately embraced awkwardness at a time when fashion was chasing obvious glamour.
Three decades later, that instinct is still visible. For Prada’s Spring/Summer 2027 collection, the skirt once again becomes the place where Prada can make the ordinary feel unusual.
Pleats, Slits and Serious Embellishment
The collection’s strongest pieces were largely knee-grazing and midi-length, but there was nothing restrained about them. Pleated skirts came in accordion formations, color-blocked constructions and candy-colored finishes, sometimes paired with boxy leather vests or oversized outerwear.
Other skirts were considerably sexier. High slits opened up pencil silhouettes to reveal lingerie slips underneath, while slinky silk midis brought a softer, more fluid mood. Heavy wool skirts carried crystals across waistbands and panels, while sheer organza trapped bows and embellishments underneath its surface.
Then came the sparkle. Paillettes, glass rhinestones, rosettes and floral-shaped sequins interrupted otherwise practical silhouettes. Rather than looking precious, the embellishment gave the clothes a sense of irreverence. This was Prada doing glamour without becoming overly polished.
The Bra Top Changes Everything
If the skirt provided the structure, the bra top supplied the attitude. The combination became one of the defining formulas of Prada’s Spring/Summer 2027 collection, particularly from the opening look, which paired a black lace-panel bra top with a vivid tomato-red skirt slit high at the leg.
The tops ranged from pared-back bandeaus to more elaborate, almost harness-like constructions. Some looked tightly molded to the body, while others featured rhinestone straps or unexpected shapes. A silky yellow version came with sleeves and a matching pouch clipped directly to it.
Placed against chunky sweater vests, button-down shirts and substantial leather jackets, the bra tops prevented the collection from settling into conventional femininity. Prada’s woman could be prim, polished and provocative within the same wardrobe.
Technical Fabrics Get a Glamorous Treatment
The material mix was equally important. Re-Nylon and matte ciré, fabrics associated with Prada’s technical vocabulary, were folded into precise pleats. Cotton was manipulated to resemble leather or suede, while crystals imitated the delicacy of guipure lace.
That collision between industry and ornament is where the collection feels particularly Prada. Even Velcro and snap fasteners become decorative details without losing their practical purpose. The clothes look beautiful precisely because their construction remains visible.
A particularly memorable pleated skirt extended beyond the body and was held in the hand, turning the garment into part of the model’s movement rather than simply something worn around her waist.
A New Kind of Everyday Prada
The rest of the wardrobe kept the collection grounded. Checked button-downs and cozy knitwear arrived in sapphire blue and ruby red, while distressed leather jackets moved from faded neutrals into saturated pinks and chartreuse.
The styling also gave the skirts different personalities. A sweater could make one look collegiate and composed; a bra top could make the same silhouette sensual; a leather jacket could make it tougher. Nothing was fixed.
That versatility is perhaps the most interesting part of Prada Spring/Summer 2027. The collection does not present the skirt as a single idea of femininity. It treats it as something that changes according to what surrounds it.
Prada Keeps Looking at the Same Thing
There is a reason the skirt has remained so important to Prada. Miuccia Prada has previously compared it to a T-shirt, suggesting how fundamental the garment is to her wardrobe vocabulary. The house even devoted its 2005 “Waist Down” exhibition in Shanghai to the history and possibilities of the skirt.
But Prada SS27 does not feel like a retrospective. Despite the obvious connection to the house’s past, the collection is too restless to simply look backward. Instead, Prada and Simons use a familiar Prada obsession as a starting point for something fresh.
The result is a runway that makes a convincing case for the power of repetition. Look at one garment closely enough, and it can become almost anything. At Prada, the skirt has never been just a skirt, and for Spring/Summer 2027, that idea has rarely looked more compelling.
Check some of our favorite designs that walked the Prada Spring/Summer 2027 runway…
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