117: Rock, paper, scissors, Prada

How to wear a SS23 Prada gabardine skirt three ways.

This permanently wrinkled skirt was a wildcard purchase I’m so relieved is paying off. Since I found it on sale for an inexplicable sub-$1,000 at Italist (which it’s closer to here), I’ve found myself wearing it often…once a week, sometimes twice, even when the occasion does NOT call for something this this.

It’s current-season Prada, which is fun on several counts, the first being that up ‘til this point, I’ve been limited by a sense of fiscal doom to the trickle-up archives of eBay (contentedly though, vintage Prada is the tap that never runs dry). But the second is having the memory of it the collection as it was on the runway so fresh in your mouth that you haven’t even brushed your teeth of it yet. Can you recall it? Models clutched their coats so Hitchcockianly with one hand while toting a little lady bag in the other, awkwardly large Mary Jane heels clomping along like some parody of womanhood. Couldn’t relate more.

Prada gabardine midi skirt, $1,650 / Beaufille bodysuit, $180 $315 / vintage Louis Vuitton kitten heels from Reluxe Fashion (similar, $375) / Sumei hoop earrings, $198

This first look was conceived almost as soon as I unpacked the skirt from its garment bag, mostly because I had also so recently added this Beaufille bodysuit to my wardrobe. The instinct to combine just-bought pieces, no matter their compatibility (swimsuits and kitten heels, hot tops and sleep shorts) is irresistible, and I can be too excited about my gets separately to weed out a great pairing from a forced one. I really think this works though!

The vintage LV kitten heels, themselves a new acquisition from Reluxe Fashion, were naturally also swept up into this Christmas-morning combination, and they end up being an invaluable asset as the palette’s only source of warmth. The beige-black signature checkerboard butters up the steely tones found elsewhere in the outfit so subtly it’s almost subliminal.

And quickly, just to say…the wrinkling behind the knee on this skirt…I could cry. If the keys in hand and elbow-crooked bags of Miu Miu FW23 made me feel seen, this knowing detail is like x-ray vision.

Prada gabardine midi skirt, $1,650 / Di Petsa Wet-Look top (similar, $424) / Maryam Nassir Zadeh Olympia wedges, $360 $445 / Ratio et Motus Holster bag (currently unavailable)

One folds like origami, the other squishes and splooges like a sexy monsoon. Di Petsa’s pseudo-soaked tank, which I’ve gone ahead and tucked under a bit to pop an ab, is this Prada skirt’s twin flame. To this tandem tags along a pair of rare pink MNZ Olympias (which I bought from Emily Oberg on Basic.Space) and a Ratio et Motus holster bag that’s apparently not available anywhere anymore. I like to wear it across-body in a flourish of Milan-tourist drag.

Prada gabardine midi skirt, $1,650 / Kassl Original Below Rubber Coat, $763 $1,000 / AMO tank top, $85 / Colorful Standard socks, $11 / G.H.Bass Weejuns loafers, $175

The prompt I gave myself with this one was along the lines of, what if I actually have to go somewhere like, in the day? And so I subdued, subdued, subdued: a plain tank (still very runway TBH), loafers, and a personality sock because I worry it’s not abundantly clear how much fun I’m having in this skirt! Lastly, this impossibly thin, yet hardy, Kassl trench that riffs on the crispness of the Prada as though caught in an endless game of Rochambeau where they’re both drawing paper. I gave her a little clutch at the center to pay a tuppence homage to the gals on the runway, and the skirt’s creased hem became Les Demoiselles d'Avignon in its frame.

For good measure, a couple of skirt alternatives that’d work just as well with any of the above pairings: an on-sale pleated Aurelee, the Maryam Nassir Zadeh trouser skirt we featured in our Winter Issue (and a suspiciously similar Frankie Shop one), a high-slit one from Musier Paris, and this black, wrap version from Acne Studios.

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Photos by Nicole Steriovski