Alice in Wonderland: Prada S/S 2009 Review by Peter

The Sartorialist observed wisely the other day that Italians (or at least the Milanese) can't avoid looking polished even when they are trying to dress down. This makes me imagine little white boy versions of T-Pain buzzing around an Italian citta on scooters, sporting gold teeth and ironed jeans. The Italians seem to revel in making the fashion vanguard presentable. Prada exploited this tendency in their Spring '09 shows to mainstream a lot of design-school freshman faux-cleverness like tie-on half-skirts into upwardly mobile design. Here are two examples:

If you wear a jumper next summer, you might be accused of jumping on the bandwagon (or trying to look like just another American Apparel 70s porn girl). Here's a nice way to transform that look into a formal orchid.

OK, altogether it's a bit much, but you can pick and choose parts of this look to bring a little downmarket risk (ahh...roller derby catfight) into your wardrobe.

There is a wonderful floating, framing quality to this dress. Again with the bringing-it-upmarket theme, the provenance of the top is more street hoodie than a familiar collarbone-exposing shawl collar look - yet it uses the collarbone as a familiar tool of elegance to achieve a high-low equipose with wrinkled casualness.
The photo above also features a less extreme (and more successful) version of the exposed bra look that Prada repeated more than a few times down the runway. Look, I'm a guy, so just don't get the point of non-sexy underthings worn on parade. It's a little too Mary Tyler Moore in Flirting With Disaster:

For me, bringing high-minded design ambition to a bra, it's like - well, it's like when Elaine on Seinfeld tried to figure out that New Yorker cartoon ("The cat is saying, 'I've enjoyed reading your email' . . . well, I can't crack this one.") I just don't get it.
OK, enough complaining. Let me end on an up-note with more examples of the Italians bringing some moxie to mundane looks:

Why simple often benefits from an abstract quirk, as long as the quirk isn't trying too hard.

There is a formality to this outfit that may limit it to business purposes, but it's nice to see something unfamiliar in Victorian. Ther'es so much bad Victorian out there. Or, maybe it's just that the whole category has been preempted by the style genius of Elvira, Mistress of the Dark: