By Liana Satenstein, Staff Writer

The impractical pursuit of a Teflon future and the unattractive aspects of 60’s home culture were evident in bulky skirts and unflattering Capri pants. Although much of the collection seemed to be designed through the skewed feline frames of an awkward housewife, Prada’s talent was visible in her jackets and cocktail dresses.

The clashing pattern designs of Prada’s outfits further projected the image of a pariah (and colorblind) housewife juxtaposed next to an immaculately-styled Stepford wife. Throughout the collection, Prada used an inky square pattern design made up of colors such as mustard yellow, tan and black. Not only did the incompatible color pairs detract from any hint of a tactful dresser, but also the constant use of square and rectangle patterns disfigured the female form.

Clothing pieces such as sleeveless blouses paired with Capri pants were formless and appeared to be poorly tailored. Consequently, they failed to grant any feminine appeal to the models and instead exaggerated their ruler figures.

While some outfits emphasized the image of a two-dimensional figure, other outfits, such as the sweater-skirt sets, ballooned the bodies of otherwise thin models. The shapeless sweater-skirt sets drowned models like Maria Carla Boscono in layers of bulky and thick fabric. One mustard colored sweater dress, fastened at the waist with a thin belt, seemed to make one model look pregnant. Doutzen Kroes, a bombshell Victoria’s Secret model, appeared neck-less and bloated in an empire waist cocktail dress of geometric patterns.
The high necklines, knee-length skirts and crowded patterns made the models look disproportionate, emphasizing a thick lower body rather than creating the illusion of evenly distributed weight.

The better pieces were Prada’s jackets and cocktail dresses. There was a leather, camel colored trench that hovered along the edges of Parisian chic with an oversized collar that acted as epaulets. The black, long- sleeved cocktail dresses seemed Puritan but successfully accentuated curves with a corset base structure.

Caricatured by ill-fitting dresses, clashing colors and cluttered patterns, Prada managed to create the image of a gawky and zany 60s housewife. Yet, towards the end of the show, Prada did the image of the housewife justice with several form-fitting cocktail dresses, allowing her to fit into the plain cult of a perfect home life.