Editor’s Note: We’re continuing our tradition of expanding the Vogue Runway archive by digitizing collections originally shot on film, with a quartet of shows from Miu Miu, which had back-to-back hits in 2023 with the pantless look and the neo-prep polo looks . Here’s a look at the brand’s circus-themed Fall 1997 lineup, which was presented in London in March 1997.
“Miu Miu is romantic but tense,” Claire Danes said The Evening Standard from her front row seat at Miu Miu’s fall 1997 show, presented in London. The actress spoke from experience, having worn the brand Romeo + Juliet. What this collection had in common with the Baz Luhrmann film was an underlying sense of forbidden pleasures. According to designer Miuccia Prada, it followed the story of “a very young girl” – a clotheshorse – “who worked in the circus.”
The age of the heroine was emphasized by minis that reveal the legs. There were traces of school uniforms visible in the neatly pleated skirts with sheer knitted tops and tailored jackets and coats in serious gray. For her inner acrobat, Prada used sports elements, such as heavy knits and woolen garments in sweaters and zip-front ‘hoodies’. In the meantime, let our protagonist take a piece of the big top with her dazzling shoes wherever she goes.
