The jewels in Prada's crown

Miuccia Prada brought sensuality back to the runway on Tuesday night, putting her indelible mark on a season that had been all sugar and no spice.

From the first look, a scarlet red satin tunic worn with short shorts, sandals and the kind of chic turban only Prada could get away with, she showed that sexual power could be suggested through silhouette and colour, not to mention a whiff of exoticism, just as sure as it can be with silver studs and spikes. It was a far more effective way of shaking fashion from its light and airy rut than the G-strings and thongs that made an appearance on runways in the first two days of Milan Fashion Week.

Global nomads

Models carried oversized nylon rucksacks like global nomads wandering the Spice Route and picking up souvenirs along the way. There were lots of jewel-toned tunic tops, which will look just as great with jeans or skinny pants as they did with the shorts shown on the runway.

Dress details

But at the heart of this collection was the dress, a sleek column in solid red or black, worn with a thin brown leather belt. These hot numbers may have looked simple, but there were details there — pin tucking around the shoulders of a khaki short-sleeve dress and a floating pleat down the front of a black version.

If the v-word (volume) has any place here, it's a minor one, though Prada did achieve an interesting fullness at the top of a dress with pleats radiating up from the waist creating a kind of croissant-shaped bodice.

Other than that, embellishment was minimal with a subtle diamond pattern running down the side of one shift and jingling metallic discs that looked almost like flattened bottle tops on another.

Pick up accessories

Strappy suede platforms and colourful turbans that adjusted in the back like baseball caps suggested 1940s screen sirens. But there were also flat sandals with pinwheels of raffia on top for more long-distance trekking.

The newest bag is a brown suede tote covered in long fringe. It was all very spare but at the same time eclectic and sexier than Prada has been in a while.

— Los Angeles Times-Washington Post