The year was 2009, and in the heart of Milan, Miuccia Prada presented her latest ingenious collection – spring/summer 2010. The most memorable standout? The chandelier studded shoes.
Constructed with a plexiglass heel and silver studded platform, delicate shards of crystal chandelier dripped off the ankles and around the straps of the shoes. In different colorways, the Prada chandelier shoes shone — sometimes the heel was dark forest green and the crystals, a smokey gray. Other times the heel was rendered in bright yellow. One thing is for sure: the shoes created a complex dialog between PVC carry-alls, candy colored glasses and messy pig tails seen on the runway.
Miuccia Prada said of the collection, that she was thinking of”business to beach,” and “how life is today. High and low, palazzos, and the popular”.
Against the haze of the palm tree printed silk shorts, coats covered in beach town scenery and silky black crepe tops, girlishness was juxtaposed with a slightly mod, slightly gothic beach-goer from the future. The prints, in fact, were taken directly from renderings of a man-made resort in Japan. The Prada chandelier shoes only reinforced the idea of reinterpreting beachwear from a brand new point of view.
The collection also included equally iconic chandelier pieces: such as an entire dress strung out of chandelier crystal, bags topped with the same as well as necklaces strung the same geometric crystals.
It may be 11 years later, but Prada’s chandelier shoes will forever be ingrained in our memories. In 2020, they still look modern and strike the balance between prim and wild.
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