Milan Fashion Week wraps up on March 3 after seven full days of celebrities, designers, and models mingling in one of the world’s most glamorous cities. People have always used fashion to make a statement, reflect their beliefs, and showcase individuality. This year, the world’s top designers have used fashion and their platform on one of the biggest runways in the world to speak to the political crises going on around the world.
Prada showcased four loose, boxy black dresses on the runway this week. While some wondered if the look was a take on the classic “little black dress” touted as a staple for every woman’s wardrobe, Miuccia Prada set the record straight.
“No. We are in a very black moment. This is a tough time. It is not my job to be political, but every time you open a newspaper – oh my God! My job is to think about what clothes a woman can wear. About what kind of femininity makes sense in a moment like this,” she said.
The use of dark colors reflected Prada’s views, which match the concern of women around the world now impacted by the Trump administration – from those who have lost access to abortion rights in their home states to women in the global south who now face the ramifications of cuts to USAID.
Prada’s designs at the Milan Fashion Week made more than just a statement; they symbolized the need for female empowerment and freedom. The designers incorporated intention into every stitch. The loose-fitting garments in the 2025 show were not a coincidence.
“I look around now and see so many corsets. I see women with so much work. Our idea of feminine beauty is often about constricting movement, so we wanted these clothes to be about liberation,” Prada co-designer Raf Simons added.
Even the material used by Prada at Milan Fashion Week spoke to a need for simplicity, embracing cotton and wool while accentuating with bows and jewelry to add glamour. “This is not a time for decadence,” Prada said. “Glamour is not a sexy dress; it’s an interior point of view. Glamour is about feeling important.”
The use of accessible materials such as cotton and wool moves forward the message Prada was trying to convey: that now, more than ever, those most disenfranchised and under attack deserve to feel glamorous. Importance should not be a feeling reserved for the wealthy oligarchs and ruling class. Glamour is not found in remaining still, constricted, and passive. Glamour is about recognizing the dark times we are up against. Glamour is about taking up space and using movement as resistance.
Fashion has always been a mode of expression, and designers at Milan Fashion Week used their stitches to make a statement that glamour and liberation are for all women, not just cis, wealthy, white, upper-class women.
