Miuccia Prada, who disliked luxury

In 1913, Mario Prada opened a shop in Milan's Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II arcade. He sold leather bags and travel trunks, and in 1919 the shop became a supplier to the Italian royal household. Expensive leather and intricate decoration: that was what luxury meant.

His granddaughter Miuccia had no interest in the family business. She earned a doctorate in political science in 1973, handed out political leaflets on the street, and studied mime on stage for several years. She disliked luxury that only made women look decorated. Still, in 1978 she took over the company, as her mother wished. Its sales that year were just over 400,000 dollars.

In 1979, the material she brought out was not leather but black nylon. It was a tough, military-grade fabric her grandfather had used to cover and protect travel trunks. In 1984 she made a backpack from Pocone nylon, used for military tents. Instead of decoration, it carried a single small triangular metal logo.

At first it was not accepted, because she sold nylon bags at the price of leather bags. People asked why it cost so much when it was not even leather. The longer customers had been buying Prada, the less they understood.

In the 1990s, as minimalism with less decoration spread, the black nylon backpack became the bag that stood for the era. What set its value was not the material but what the bag said. In 1997, Prada's sales were 674 million dollars, more than 1,600 times its sales in the year she took over.

In 2019, Prada introduced Re-Nylon, made from fishing nets recovered from the sea and discarded plastic. In 2024 it took part in designing a spacesuit for going to the Moon. A fabric once used for military tents had made its way to a spacesuit.

Worth adding: Prada did not stop making leather bags. It still makes them, and its nylon bags are still as expensive as its leather ones. What changed was not the material but what the price of luxury is based on.

Luxury that flaunted glamour and wealth was recreated with practicality and intellect.
Her dislike, more than her love, completely redefined the meaning of fashion.