After watching the Spring/Summer 2011 ad campaign for Prada and I have a few things to comment on :
(firstly watch the video yourself ! )
So, 1) the music (the song is Mirando, by Ratatat), and the dancing/posing of the models totally makes my day! Its like waking up hearing a song you really like.
2) Although I have not yet seen all the S/S 11 collections, after seeing this I did. And in this ad, the clothes-oh my! Colour and stripes are the protagonist this season (I did notice some embroidery but nothing says summer like stripes do). I went on to Style and found all the designers that travelled back in time with their spring/summer 2011 collections.
How designers did it: Miucca Prada kept the lines of the loose dresses simple and summer-y, dressed the sky-high platform shoes in stripes and showed 60s inspired sunglasses for yet another season (these are last seasons shades). Her colour palette was mainly blue-green, orange, yellow, fuschia and black.
Although Marc Jacobs lost me last year, with his Ready-to-wear Spring/Summer collection for 2011 he makes up for it. The stripped dresses and blouses are great all-day long and the colours are mainly orange-y, blue and black. The lines are quite loose and the only accessories used are a hat and a bunch of colourful plastic bracelets.
Raf Simons, artistic director of Jil Sander, mixed his minimalistic lines with blocked colours, loose lines and -what else- stripes. Purple, blue and pink stripes dressed up the full length skirts and dresses as well as the sleeveless, tight, semi see-through shirts. The mix of horizontal and vertical stripes is perfect for spring and summer and Raf Simons proves that all we need besides his fabulous clothes is pink lipstick.
All Photos: Style
How to wear it: For the perfect summer look, wear a maxi dress with flat sandals. Big round shades, a hat and colourful bracelets are the accessories you will need. Do not add too much colour though -it’s either the dress or the accessories- for a balanced look. You could also add a canvas beach tote if you plan to hit the beach later on.
Dress up your night with stripes with a mini dress paired with colourful platform heels, a gold clutch and statement earrings. I would suggest to keep the black-grey tones with the dress so you can experiment with different accessories without making the outfit over-the-top.
Here are two examples of alternative ways to wear stripes, emphasising more on the accessories. Whatever ways you what to wear your stripes this spring/summer, remember to be careful with the different colour combinations. You don’t want your outfit to end up looking tacky and costume-y!
xo F
