Milan Fashion Week opened with a show that had exactly one thesis, the knee-length skirt. It was confident, a little cheeky and almost suspiciously simple. Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons sent out 63 looks and, for once, nobody needed a decoder ring to understand the brief.

Prada has believed this for a very long time. Two decades ago she compared the skirt to a T-shirt, easy, essential, always there. This season she finally put a whole runway behind the idea.

The hemline stayed exactly where it was, and everything else moved. Wool wraps came fastened like kilts, held shut by industrial Velcro (yes, Velcro, and some had jewels scattered across it, because why not). Cotton was treated to look like leather and paired with jackets given the same finish.

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There were pleats, prints, plaids, and skirts layered under other skirts. Then came the sweeter, stranger bits, pastel numbers tied with tiny waist bows and wrapped in sheer synthetic lining, normally hidden away, and skirts made of diamanté daisy chains that looked like they'd been raided from a very expensive childhood.

The whole collection ran on contradictions and enjoyed every one of them, masculine and feminine, hard and soft, frumpy and sexy, natural and man-made. Some skirts were A-line, some pencil-straight, but the shape was never the point. Prada called the skirt a ‘frame,’ something you hang a mood, a personality or a whole Tuesday on.

 

There's feminist footnote here too. The skirt has spent decades being treated as the lesser sibling of trousers, which were crowned the real symbol of power and liberation. Prada wasn't having it. She pointed out that it may be the oldest garment there is, worn by men and women alike, and gestured at her waist to help us picture it. (This is also the woman who staged a ‘Waist Down’ skirt exhibition in Tokyo in 2004. When reminded of it, she remarked that for women a lot happens below the waist, then snickered. Iconic.)

The newly renovated Prada store in Milan's Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II even has a corner of archival skirts, naturally.

Styling did the heavy lifting. A prim button-down with clunky '80s pumps, toes cut clean out, and you're at the office. Swap in a lacy bra top and dainty, flip-flop-like heels and you're headed to the club. Add a slouchy sweater and tractor-soled slip-ons and you're off to the playground or the grocery store. The exposed big toe continues to be a trend nobody can fully explain. We're all just going along with it.

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The evening looks got the closest to weird, tops that were more suggestion than shirt, closer to straps and bandages, fitted with little clips to hold a satin pouch. Picture a rock climber's chalk bag, then imagine its glossy, BDSM-adjacent luxury cousin. It's also a hands-free evening bag, which is honestly a solved problem.

That was as wild as it got. Rarely has a recent Prada show felt this straightforward. As Simons put it backstage, the wearer decides how to use the clothes and who she wants to be. Designers only propose a way to get through the day.

The takeaway is calm and confident, speak softly, wear a great skirt. It also gives you room for big strides.