While the rest of the industry uses January to preach the gospel of quiet luxury and austere resolutions, Miuccia Prada is, thankfully, doing something far more interesting: she is accessorising the chaos.
With the launch of ‘Prelude 2026,’ Miu Miu offers an antidote to the blank slate of the new year, presenting a collection that refuses to choose between the utilitarian and the whimsical. It is a wardrobe for the girl who might be heading to work or might be running away to the countryside – likely doing both in the same pair of charm-laden sneakers.
The collection is anchored in a subversion of the workwear uniform, a theme Mrs. Prada has been dissecting with surgical precision for seasons now. But where previous iterations felt frayed and slightly frantic, Prelude settles into a “highly distinctive elegance.”

The silhouette remains defiantly low-slung; cotton canvas trousers and those ubiquitous puffed micro-mini skirts sit heavily on the hips, rendered in a palette of pragmatic khaki and soft blush. It creates a tension between the rugged and the delicate, best seen in the styling of apron dresses layered over striped rugby and polo shirts, or tucked beneath waxed jackets in deep military green. It’s the British countryside aesthetic reimagined for city streets, featuring shrunken knitwear and red poplin shirting that injects a sharp uniform-like discipline into the otherwise relaxed layering.
Footwear doubles down on the House’s obsession with ‘cluttercore’ personalisation. The sneaker offering is split into two distinct tribes: the Plume, a lightweight debut with a full leather upper in rich tan, and the Tyre, a sturdier, architectural beast defined by an exaggerated natural rubber sole and crisp white technical fabric.
Through the ongoing ‘Custom Studio’ project, these sneakers are designed to be disrupted and fully customisable. Wearers are invited to attach a jangly assortment of trinkets, such as stylised flowers, pom-poms and tassels, tapping into the current appetite for hyper-individualism.

Accessories remain the star of the show. The Arcadie returns as the stoic anchor of the handbag family, joined by the Beau Bowling, a new shape that feels pulled from a vintage archive but softened for modern life. Both models are rendered in a spectrum of greys and browns, along with classic backpacks.
Prelude 2026 captures the specific mood of the Miu Miu woman: she is busy, likely wearing a waxed jacket over a party skirt, and she definitely has too many charms on her shoes.
Discover more here.
photography. courtesy of Julie Greve
words. Gennaro Costanzo






































































































































































































