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Source: AFP
As a pupil successful the volatile May of 1968, Miuccia Prada took to the streets of Milan to show for women's rights wearing an Yves Saint Laurent suit.
Today, the 76-year-old reigns implicit a luxury goods empire worthy much than 5 cardinal euros ($5.4 billion) a year, with her satellite astir to grow further with the takeover of flamboyant rival Versace.
An avant-garde decorator whose minimalist benignant belies its rebellious nature, Prada has imprinted her elegant and intelligence sensibility connected the satellite of Italian fashion for decades.
As a young pistillate she wanted to go progressive successful politics, and took courses successful mime and theatre.
But she shelved those dreams successful the aboriginal 1970s to give herself, on with her parent Luisa, to the leather goods boutique founded successful 1913 by her grandfather, Mario Prada.
"In the 1970s, arsenic a left-wing woman, I was ashamed to marque handbags, and I was besides ashamed due to the fact that it was a assemblage that I liked precise much," she said successful 2022.
Born successful Milan connected May 10, 1948, into a bourgeois Catholic family, Prada has go 1 of the wealthiest and astir influential women successful the world, with a luck estimated by Forbes mag astatine 5.8 cardinal dollars.
A governmental science postgraduate and feminist activistic who frequented Communist circles, she yet devoted herself assemblage and psyche to turning astir the household business, which had mislaid its lustre aft the decease of her gramps successful 1958.
A monster of ambition
In 1977, Prada recovered a cleanable spouse successful Patrizio Bertelli, a Tuscan leather shaper she met astatine the Milan leather goods fair.
He helped her boost the finances of the boutique, implicit which she took power successful 1978.
Nine years later, the concern partners married.
"He was the 1 who wanted to bash thing big. I told him I wasn't ambitious. He replied: 'You're a monster of ambition'. He was right," she said.
It was the starting constituent for Prada's irresistible rise.
In the aboriginal 1980s, the decorator broke caller crushed by creating a postulation of achromatic nylon bags with a silky effect, which became each the rage.
She would spell connected 40 years aboriginal to champion nylon thread made from recycled integrative recovered from the oceans.
The marque began growing, with boutiques springing up archetypal successful New York and Madrid, past London, Paris and Tokyo.
Ironically, her archetypal women's ready-to-wear amusement successful Milan successful 1988, each successful achromatic and white, was not good received, with critics considering it excessively austere.
But her minimalist luxury, with its cleanable lines and somber colours, yet made its mark, winning implicit an planetary audience.
Breaking the codes
Federica Trotta Mureau, editor-in-chief of the Italian mag Mia Le Journal, told AFP that successful tapping her fascination with art, architecture and philosophy, Prada "created a escaped universe, a benignant of experimentation without rules... aimed astatine breaking the codes of fashion".
Prada says she has agelong worn vintage garments, portion speaking retired against accelerated fashion, wherever speedy accumulation cycles churn retired low-priced items that are often soon disposed of.
Her signature garment has ever been the skirt, with its infinite variations.
Prada refuses to spot women arsenic "just beauteous figures": "I don't thin to marque ace sexy clothes. I effort to beryllium originative successful a mode that can beryllium worn, that tin beryllium useful."
A men's postulation was rolled retired successful 1993, the aforesaid twelvemonth that saw the motorboat of the Miu Miu marque appealing to younger customers -- and borrowing the designer's nickname.
Sales of Miu Miu doubled successful 2024, enabling Prada to upwind the planetary luxury situation unscathed.
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Source: AFP
