Short coats with pert buttons, iron-flat hair with dolly girl eye makeup and a whiff of London's Carnaby Street in the 1960s - the Miu Miu resort look was familiar - yet tailor-made for the 21st century.
Picture credit: Indigital
As the models strode out with gladiator sandals climbing towards bare thighs and psychedelic patterned dresses, it was Miuccia Prada's artful mash-up of fashion decades that revitalised the past for this show on the eve of Paris haute couture.
Picture credit: Indigital
A graphic crochet tab across the bust? It was pure '70s laced with today's fresh love affair with handiwork. Floaty, full-sleeved blouses with skinny-hip pants were a new take on androgyny. The sour colours, mixing orange and pink, or greens from olive drab to emerald, were pure Prada and her 1990s ugly aesthetic.
Picture credit: Indigital
It was the digital element, blowing up Paisley prints until they looked like grass green plankton squirming on a mud brown surface, that stopped the show from feeling retro - even if the bucket chairs lining the geometric carpet runway suggested another revival.
Picture credit: Indigital
But Miuccia's skill is to make the commercial seem artistic. The line-up for the dinner - where the flower vases and bread plates were carved in wood - had an arty feeling. Add Steve McQueen, Uma Thurman, Roman Polanski with his actress wife Emmanuelle Seigner, designer Marc Jacobs and Prada's art and architecture friends - and the recipe for success was as certain a hit as the Italian menu.
