This year the BFC celebrates the carrier of Miuccia Prada, the Lady of Milan

Text by: Annarosa Laureti

Today, December 10, during the 2018 Fashion Awards ceremony, organized in partnership with Swarovski at the Royal Albert Hall in London, the British Fashion Council – set up in 1983 to promote British fashion and support young talents – gave to the designer the Outstanding Achievement Award.

This prize, par excellence, pays homage to all of those fashion figures who have transformed and modelled the fashion world.

“We are thrilled to be honouring Miuccia Prada”, said Caroline Rush, CEO of British Fashion Council, “for being an incredible design maverick and for spearheading the evolution of the Prada group from a family business to a global brand”

A 40 year-lon carrier, that of Miuccia, is worthy to be celebrated. Nadja Swarovski, member of the Swarovski Executive Board, defined her a true visionary”

After a past into theatre and politics – she studied acting at Piccolo Teatro in Milan as well as took part in student demonstrations at the end of 60s and finally got a degree in Political Sciences – in 1978 Mrs Prada took over the small family leather goods house, born more than 100 years ago in 1913, together with her partner Patrizio Bertelli.

Shortly, her courageous brand became one of fashion’s ready-to-wear powerhouses, starting a truly revolution with its “ugly chic”.

“Mrs. Prada’s intuition for the zeitgeist and her blending of multiple creative disciplines including fashion design, art and architecture since the beginning have made her a pioneering force in our industry” commented Stephanie Phair, Chairman of BFC.

From the first catwalk in 1988 in fact, creation after creation, season after season, campaign after campaign, Prada aesthetics has distinguished itself with its strength, and its reluctance to those concepts that based the entire fashion system, as trend and beauty.

Collaborating with the biggest names of the time – from Carla Bruni to Amber Valletta, from Christy Turlington to Naomi Campbell and Linda Evangelista, from Steven Meisel, Glen Luchford, David Sims to Peter Lindbergh – the maison has grown up until including different souls and realities.

Miu Miu, Church’s and Car Shoe but also the historic pastry shop Marchesi 1824 in Milan and Fondazione Prada, that was born in 1993 to support and organize contemporary art exhibition, now are all of them part of the Prada universe.

With a proud attitude and a maverick gaze, Miuccia Prada has always decided to follow few and clear rules – her own ones – creating a bold, futurist, and timeless as well, style.

So congratulation Lady of Milan!

 

Cover: Miuccia Prada, Photo by Brigitte Lacombe