This 16-Year-Old Prada Collection Has Never Been More Relevant

Every new season of Fashion Month promises a few constants: a new front-row star, a runway gag designed with social media in mind, and the trend-making power of Miuccia Prada. To many industry insiders, the Prada show in Milan is when the season actually begins and the future “look” takes shape. For as much as Mrs. Prada heads towards the future, though, fashion stays hyperfixated on her past collections. In the age of endless archival pulls and vintage sourcing, one runway (and one silhouette in particular) occupies Fashion People to this day: Prada Spring/Summer 2009.

Bloggers and Instagram-inspiration accounts regularly talk about the staying power of this collection, but a recent pull worn by Rita Ora has us walking down memory lane once more. It’s the best Ora has looked all year, wearing a crinkled silk dress styled minimally by Thomas Christos in black Gianvito Rossi sandals and a darling porcelain purse. The styling and hair reflect the “bombshell-naif” dichotomy that keep stylists and stars coming back to this collection.

Bella Hadid bought her own version of an Italian brown ocher set and wore it to a Miu Miu fashion-week afterparty three years ago; Hunter Schafer had a bespoke version of the Mockingjay-gold silk set made just for her to wear on The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes red carpet in 2023. Camille Charrière and Lorde have also worn the red version seen on the runway 16 years ago. (Single pieces from the collection are going for four figures on resale sites.) Nobody can say it better than Sarah Mower did for her Vogue Runway review in October 2008, when she described the lived-in luxury as “perfectly innocent summery dishevelment.” The loose, louche dolce-vita style paved the way for celebrities to look intentionally wrinkly in 2025, with distressed and pre-worn clothing now elevated to couture status. The crinkly matching-separate looks also bring an undeniable sex factor — one NYLON employee put it best: “The bustier makes anyone’s tits look good” — yet offer a bit of Italian modesty.

The runway first made headlines for the teetering platforms that caused several models to wipe out mid-show — but we’re leaving the antiquated need for wobbling in the early aughts. Instead, we’re taking the notion that a bare décolletage and ties holding off-the-shoulder jackets up can be sexier than the surface-level appeal of a crop top and cut-off shorts. When it seems many female designers today want to talk about “empowerment,” Prada doesn’t care for such grandstanding. There’s no need for soliloquies, gravity-defying push-up bras, or AI filters when a woman designer understands what it is women actually want: to look, feel, and move through the world as her most mysterious, alluring, and busy self.