Miuccia Prada's Fall 2011 Mood Rests in the Video, Not Images Only

Prada Womenswear Fall/Winter 2011 Campaign

Writing just now about Miuccia Prada being honored, along with Elsa Schiaparelli, at next year’s 2012 Metropolitan Museum Costume Exhibit and spring gala, I remembered an earlier business and branding article One NYT Critic May Owe Prada.com An Apology, written Dec, 2009.

At the time, I was a bit miffed that Miuccia Prada’s website was called ‘stodgy’ because it didn’t have the same Internet buzz held by Burberry’s ArtoftheTrench.com.

My comments had nothing to do with Burberry, who has proven to be a master of digital networks marketing with 8,056,434 likes on Facebook, compared to Prada’s 791,206 and Chanel’s 4,425,147.

What is the quality of those FB likes? Are they devoted brand loyalists, or drive-by online fashionistas, collecting Likes to build their own FB portfolio and ‘I am my brands’ online image. A serious marketing person must dig beneath the surface of the numbers.

In analyzing AOC’s online performance, I am well aware that there are multiple types of readers. Give me quality over quantity any day. For every drive-by unique who stays three minutes and bounces off the page at a rate of 60%, give me our readers who bounce at half that rate and continue to read 30 pvs on average per visit. My goal is to nurture the online niche jewels, women (and men) with a mind and money.

I took offence at Prada being low-balled for page views in that NYT headline, when their website was rich in content, especially films focused on the mindset and mood of Smart Sensuality women. I wrote then that ArtoftheTrench.com was a passing fancy, and based on an Alexa in the mid-350,000 today, I was correct.

Returning to Prada.com today, I had a similar reaction. Looking at the Prada Fall 2011 Steven Meisel ad campaign images, we get one impression.

Coming off the Spring 2011 Prada campaign with Arizona Muse and Mariacarla Boscono bopping and hopping around to upbeat sounds, the Fall 2011 video is not only moodier but there’s a definite message.

Kelly Mittendorf languishes on a blue sofa and Frida Gustavsson freezes on a purple bench, but what we hear is the voice, the sensuality of hand on skin, a woman in contact with herself and with her contradictions. The video end on a reference to humans being on an unknown species, an acknowledgement of the focus on Prada+PETA+python, for example, among Smart Sensuality women.

I do not wish to misrepresent this topic connecting fashion and PETA. Most women could care care less about how a python becomes their handbag or Prada vest — unless you are British. Fur sales are expected to rise 10% this year. Kudos to Chanel for sporting a great collection of faux furs for Fall 2011.

My point is that the Prada Fall 2011 video is much more sensual and intelligent than it might appear in the photos only. We must interact with the film to receive the entire message of the season.

Smart Sensuality intelligence does encompass an acknowledgement that there is a relationship between women and the pedigree of the clothes on our backs. Miuccia Prada is a star performer in understanding this intellectual, emotional fashion perspective.

From her clothes to marketing, to ongoing support of artists, Miuccia Prada has always wrestled and articulated the intellectualism behind fashion — even when producing a season of frivolity. It’s her gentle reminder that clothes don’t make the woman, period. Anne