Prada Bags

Like Louis Vuitton, Mario and Martino Prada of Milan established themselves as manufacturers of trunks, but from the company’s inception in 1913, they also produced and imported a certain number of women's handbags. By the 1950s, though, Prada was finding it difficult to compete in a world in which luxury travel requiring luxury luggage festooned with tortoiseshell and gold fittings was quickly becoming a thing of the past. Two decades later, in the 1970s, the future of Prada looked grim. Into this valley of economic turmoil stepped Miuccia Prada, the granddaughter of Mario. Though she was following in her mother, Luisa’s, footsteps as the leader of her family’s firm, she was an odd choice to run what by then was a rather traditional women’s fashion-accessories house. After all, Miuccia had a doctorate in political science, was a self-identifying feminist, and she was hardly bashful about her membership in the Communist party. But Miuccia’s fashion-outsider status proved the key to Prada’s future success. One of Miuccia Prada’s innovations when she took over the company in 1978 was to commandeer industrial fabrics for her company’s handbags. Her most iconic fabric, a black pocono nylon, was originally made by a parachute company. This material gave Prada bags a minimalist, utilitarian look that was stylish for being anti-fashion, producing a design that appeared made for work and daily use rather than a pricey treasure to be gawked at during Fashion Week. In 1985, everything came together for Prada when a nylon bag designed by Miuccia took off. Though the bag had a handle so it could be carried, most people—men and women alike—wore it as a backpack. Despite its social positioning, or perhaps because of it, Prada became a revered luxury brand, so much so that in 1992, the company introduced Miu Miu (a play on Miuccia's nickname) as a brand for younger, somewhat-less-affluent customers. The look of Miu Miu bags was looser than Prada bags, a bit more casual, without jettisoning the parent company’s aesthetic DNA. Since Miu Miu became part of the Prada family, Prada itself has evolved into one of the world’s premier fashion brands. As for the handbags and purses produced by Prada, they have become more diverse. Some shoulder bags are made of lustrous, almost reflective synthetic materials, giving them a look that would be right at home in a 1970s disco. Other bags made of printed satin have a resort feel to them, right down to their cheerful leaf motifs. And then there are the gathered and pouchy bags in an array of colors. While these bags definitely don’t recall those original pocono nylon numbers of 1985, they do appear to be inspired by an expanding parachute.