STUDIO 325: It's Showtime: Prada A/W12 Milan Fashion Week

It's always interesting to see what Miuccia Prada has up her sleeve for her collections, especially with the hype of the recent Prada Menswear A/W12 where models were replaced by a cast of actors, the likes of Adrien Brody, Jamie Bell and Gary Oldman. For the womanswear, the setting was just as opulent; this time with a vibrant geometric purple carpet contrasted with modern neon lighting. The showspaces of a Prada catwalk are always something to talk about and often set the theme of the season's collection. Designed by Rem Koolhaas' AMO think tank (part of OMA), the show sets are experimental; previous shows have played with a sea of blue foam seats for the S/S 2012 menswear, and the A/W 2009 shows were placed on an archipelago of timber islands. The catwalk has become just as much a spectacle as the model's walking down it, and with so much of a collection now seen online, designers have to catch the attention of their audience, whose concentration span is fast declining. This collection certainly made the eye stray and wonder over the clothes; models sashayed down the catwalk first in a uniform of black, but steadily towards the end of the show in retro, geometric, colourful patterns. You can see that the plush carpet was somehow an enlargement of these shapes, a nod to the mosaic prints adorning the military trouser suits.