The Prada Designer Fashion Empire

Mario Prada founded the family luxury leather goods company which was then called Prada Brothers, in Milan, Italy during 1913. He began by selling shoes, leather handbags and trunks. The classic Prada suitcase was made of heavy walrus skin but as plane travel made heavy suitcases impractical, the company started to make lighter bags and high quality items made of crystals, tortoise shell and wood. They also sold garments of waterproof fabrics to the U.S.

Miuccia Prada, Mario's granddaugther, inherited the business in 1978. She and her husband Patrizio Bertelli led the company's expansion into ready-to-wear apparel. In 1985, she designed a new line of black, unlabelled, hard-wearing, but finely-woven nylon handbags that immediately became must-haves draped over every influential arm in the '90s. In 1995 she won "Designer of the Year" award. In 1998 Prada opened their first menswear shop in Los Angeles, USA. They also opened new Prada stores in Manhattan and Las Vegas. Her fashions also became highly desired by celebrities like Uma Thurman, twirling down the red carpet in her beautiful Prada designed Oscar gown. The fashion conscience women of wealth and celebrity enjoyed wearing the Prada designer line, as they still do today. It was during this time line, that Prada bags were established as the accessory of choice. Prada built her family's modest luggage brand into a company worth billions of dollars today.

In 1992, Prada debuted the less expensive bridge line Miu Miu (Miuccia's nickname), inspired by her personal wardrobe of earthier, hippyish garments in natural fabrics and colors. Clean and stylish clothing designs, fine materials and exquisite craftsmanship conspired to win Prada a Council of Fashion Designers of America International Award, in 1993. A year later, she showed in New York for the first time and opened her London boutique. She now does shows for Prada and Miu Miu twice a year in Milan.

What sets Miuccia Prada apart from the rest and has contributed largely to her success in the fashion industry is her disregard and in some cases, her open contempt - for the dictates of fashion. Whereas fashion expects an image to be constantly updated, Prada reportedly sank upwards of $100 million into projects that are considered to be permanent. Whereas, common sense says a fashion designer should design what she finds appealing, Prada will choose a color (such as turquoise) that she despises, because of the rush it gives her when she can make something beautiful using it. Her clothes are not exactly fashionable. There is no defining accent, just a grouping of desirable useful things in exquisite fabrics. Her clothes, though often deceptively plain looking, have become widely influential. She gives traditional garments a modern handling, like trimming nylon parkas with mink and making trench coats and twin sets out of silk faille. If you want to know what a fashion season is about, you don't miss the Prada show, says Julie Gilhart, fashion director for Barneys. She never follows anyone elses lead, just her own original energy. Her collections are completely an expression of herself.

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