The History of Prada
The Prada flagship store located in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, Milan, Italy.
From Trunks To Treasure.
Prada has been around for over 113 years established in 1913 by two founding brothers, Mario and Martino Prada, who opened a leather goods shop in Milan. They sold travel items, bags and trunks. Since 1919, the premium quality of Prada leather goods grew in popularity securing The Italian Royal House as their official supplier.
By engaging the Italian Royal House, it also gave them the use of the triangle logo and House of Savoy coat of arms on their products that you still see today. The movement grew and the aristocratic growth of the bourgeoisie brand Prada was born.
In a turn of events, Mario Prada saw women as stay-at-home housewives, he would realise later that this was not the case. During Mario’s retirement, he wanted to pass the successful Prada brand on to his son, who had no interest in running the business.
This gave Luisa Prada, Mario’s daughter, a chance to step up and run the business. Luisa ran the business for 20 years, ending her rein in the 1970’s when her daughter, Miuccia Prada, head of design took over the family business. Miuccia would later develop Miu Miu.
However, Miuccia introduced handbags and luggage which propelled Prada forward into the next phase of design growth for the brand, some suggesting that the brand may not have survived otherwise during that time.
Feminist at heart and a part of the Italian communist party, Miuccia was a self-made designer. People disagreed with her entering the design industry, but she loved it and loved the brand. The concept signature of “Ugly Chic” grew to great applause, challenging the standard conservative industry design trends of the 1970’s.
During 1978 Miuccia meet her husband, Patrizio Bertelli, and co-launching a line of designer footwear which would later become well received in the designer market. Patrizio would later become Co-Chief Executive of Prada in 2014.
Prada expanded retail stores all over the world, opening their first green store in Via della Spiga, Milan and eventually London, Tokyo, Paris and Madrid. In 1988, Prada launch a full winter/fall ready to wear line dominating Milan fashion week providing a new era in design by the family business. Inspired by dark and contrasting bright colours, the line up consisted of designs specifically from Miuccia’s wardrobe collections. Prada continued to dominate fashion by introducing low waistlines with thin belts. Miuccia’s unconventional ‘Sexy & Chic’ combined with clean lines and elegance was an understated design collection that transpired growth in the fashion industry during 1990’s.
“Fashion is an instant language” Iconic quotes of the Prada design campaigns. Launching men’s Spring-Summer collections in 1998 classed as a monochrome look, Prada provided ready-to wear outfits that were neutrally toned compared to the rest of the 1980’s colourful concepts!
Other significant collections over the years have been Prada Linea Rossa (1977, relaunched in 2018) bucket hats and raincoats, iconic Prada nylon bags, ski gear, shoes and sunglasses. This was a collection that used avant-guard materials in tech savvy sportswear that could be dressed up and wearable all day long. The collections continued with the release of the silk turban design collection Spring/ Summer 2007. The Prada Galleria Handbag release of 2007 named after Prada’s Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II Milan flagship store, and a Flaming stiletto Spring/Summer 2012.
In 2020, Raf Simons, a Belgian Designer joined Prada as Co-Creative Director redefining the 2021 Spring/Summer collection which included 1950’s accents. Fall/winter 2022 saw the resurgence of WWII uniform trends from Prada’s modest beauty collection.
Eyewear during Prada’s resurgence, gained traction in 1999 when Prada partnered with De Rigo on a joint venture company called IED ( International Eyewear Distribution) Which ended up distributing Prada, Miu Miu, Jil Sanders and Helmut Lang eyewear. In 2000, Prada bought out De Rigo’s 51 percent of the company and sold the entire thing to Luxottica for $30.4 million. And that is why when you purchase genuine designer eyewear most of it is made under licence and distributed by Luxottica.
*Glam Observer, The Wild Bilby and Wikipedia for information & photographs in this article, 2026: ehttps://glamobserver.com/the-history-of-prada/
