Ugly Chic by Prada

originally January 10, 2022

See the whole show here.

“Ugly Chic” was invented by Prada. The Spring/ Summer 1996 Prada collection entitled Banal Eccentricity was instrumental in the world of fashion. Its use of commonly dismissed colors and materials brought the brand to the forefront of the fashion industry, and then reconstructed our idea of what it means to be attractive and to have style.

Banal Eccentricity is a retro-inspired brand of geek chic that utilized underused colors like avocado and ocher to promote an off-key cool feeling. This feeling, in the 90s, came in sharp contrast to the other major brands of the moment like Tom Ford that went for an overtly sexual appeal. Miuccia Prada started this ugly chic movement, and Gucci followed this aesthetic soon after. The two have carried this aesthetic on their back from the 90s until today.

Prada earned her PhD in political science from the University of Milan back in 1973. This is relevant as the designer is well-known for producing clothes with style and a sprinkle of intellectualism. As a strong, outspoken feminist, the designer has switched up society’s views on what is expected from women in fashion. Her becoming a designer, rather than a politician, is because she sees clothes as a lot more than what they look like. She says, “I suppose I felt guilty not to be doing something more important, more political. So in a way I am trying to use the company for these other activities.” It wasn’t always easy for her, though. She admits, “When I started, fashion was the worst place to be if you were a leftist feminist. It was horrid. I had a prejudice, yes, I always had a problem with it,” but she persevered and has now made incredible strides in finding solutions to the problems that she identified at her beginning.

Ugly chic was just the beginning of that back in 1996 and the trend has continued since then for Miuccia with this brand. Even in her most recent collection, spring of 2022, Prada reinvents the wheel of what is sexy for society. In a collection entitled “A Seduction Through Reduction,” Miuccia Prada paired with Raf Simons in her designs that focused on the process of stripping down clothing-which inevitability leads to the body being emphasized and exposed. In viewing this collection, you will find that sexy for Prada is remarkably unlike other forms of sexy you will find on the runway, and this is in essence what is so unapologetically Prada.

& every look here.

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“Ugly is attractive, ugly is exciting. Maybe because it is newer,” Miuccia Prada comments.

Prada herself once told Gucci’s Alessandro Michele that when she started in the industry, “Everything was about super-beautiful, aggressive, polished beauty. And I arrived, with these kinds of ugly girls. They really criticized me a lot, for years and years.”

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If anything could prove the allure of this new ugliness, it may be superstar Madonna’s adoption of the collection. Known for usually bursting with her own sexuality and seen wearing overtly sexy pieces like Jean-Paul Gaultier’s conical bras, Madonna wore a chartreuse trouser suit from the collection to the VH1 Fashion & Music Awards in 1995.

The fondness of ugly-chic has manifested itself in Hollywood, even more so as of recently, with the rise of style icons like Lena Dunham. This writer, director, producer, and actress has generated lots of buzz with red carpet and streetwear looks alike that scream ugly chic.

Like these…

As a role model for the body positive, modern, urban feminist, her frump-fashion has become symbolic of her cause. In response to this, Dunham says, “fashion is fun, but sometimes I’d rather not spend 3 hours and lots of cash I could give to charity or spend on books and food to get ready to go out.” The icon is truly living the values of Prada, although she likely is not a customer.

Prada states, “What you wear is how you present yourself to the world, especially today when human contacts go so fast. Fashion is instant language,” and “I am trying to work out which images of the female I want to analyze. I’m not really interested in clothes or style.” This has clearly worked for this superstar designer as the House of Prada has, since the 1996 collection, become one of the most celebrated brands of fashion in history, and Miuccia- now co-head designer along with Raf Simons beginning just this past year-one of the most celebrated designers of all time. The house rakes in over £3bn in sales every year and has over 600 boutiques and 12,000 employees internationally. Clearly, her flare for the unconventional and passion for providing collections with a second, intellectual layer has garnered its fair share of well-deserved and enduring support. Support that’s already been immortalized in “Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations” and exhibition created in celebration of these two highly respected fashion houses, both leaders in innovation for the field, with collections viewed as radical interpretations of society’s norms.

Here’s a peak at the exhibition:

Ugly chic and all of Miuccia’s work since has been monumental in fashion, and has directed the industry in a more feminist friendly way. Thanks to everyone for reading,  because, as Prada so eloquently states it, “I don’t believe in people who think that clothes are not important.”