Save this story Save Story Save this story To know Laia Garcia-Furtado is to understand that she’s obsessed with Prada . Indeed, it’s one of her most obvious traits. During her tenure as senior fashion news editor here at Vogue , she spoke at length about her expertise on Miuccia Prada on our podcast, “The Run-Through,” and wrote countless odes to her beloved brand. So when she was approached by an editor at Batsford Books with a proposal to write a book on Prada, it felt preordained. “I feel like I’ve been training my entire life for this,” she said. Still, as an editor herself, Garcia-Furtado had to gut-check herself. “I quickly remembered that there’s a lot more to ’90s Prada than those legendary collections that came in the second half of the decade.”
Her new book Prada in the Nineties comes at a great time for the new generation of Miuccia-heads, discovering the brand on social media. “I think everyone is still so obsessed with the ’90s because, looking back, we think of it as the last decade of a kind of freedom,” Garcia-Furtado explains. “The Internet was barely beginning, and people still dressed to their own spirit. But I think for Prada, especially, this is the decade where it went from a kind of fledgling label to the global behemoth it is today.” She adds that it was during this period that Mrs. Prada discovered her voice and encompassing vision for what the brand would one day become. “All those ’90s collections are still constantly referenced to this day.”
Even as a devotee, the research process yielded a treasure trove of information about Mrs. Prada, like the fact that the designer’s spring 1999 collection was actually her way of fighting back against the trends of the ’90s (trends, of course, she helped popularize). “The spring 1999 collection with mirror embellishments was her sort of ‘taking the piss’ to the hippie trend that was happening around the time,” says Garcia-Furtado. “I love when you see her humor peeking through, and that really reminded me of the lace collection from fall 2008 —another one of my all-time favorites—that she said she made because she hated lace.”
Because the book is unauthorized and unapproved by Prada—as she wittily notes on her cover—Garcia-Furtado tapped illustrator Rachel Song to reimagine her favorite collections (think a chinoiserie look on page 133 or the spring 1999 bumbag on page 167). When asked if she’s sent a copy to Prada headquarters yet, she had a pithy reply: “You can’t just reach out to God like that.” Here’s to hoping a copy makes its way to Milan regardless.
On the occasion of the book being published, we asked Garcia-Furtado to share her four favorite ’90s Prada collections, and explain what makes them so special.
“I think spring 1994 is maybe an underrated collection, or maybe it was underrated to me, and now I love it. The strange sheer nightgowns layered over knitted separates and worn with little white socks and odd moccasins. The sudden Renaissance influence with the leather vests over the dreamy white dresses. It really captured the grunge spirit of the time yet in a purely Miuccia way, but I think it’s still really modern.”
“ Spring 1996 is maybe my all-time favorite fashion collection, the root cause of my personal style. The mismatched prints, all the different shades of green that are supposed to be ugly but couldn’t possibly be. (It’s worth noting that my teen girl bedroom had two walls painted bright slime green and two opposing walls painted mint green—so I wouldn’t go totally crazy according to my mom.) But even beyond the prints, the silhouettes are pure Prada: a midi-length skirt ending in the no man’s land between knee and ankle, a simple slip dress worn under a car coat, strange sandals that expose entirely too much toe. Everything feels a little bit off, but it’s also perfectly feminine, perfectly balanced.”
“This was the season when Mrs. Prada started thinking about the future, like suddenly the idea of the new millennium became real. Everything looks a little bit tech-y yet also romantic, as if it came from a near-distant past. Beads look like the inside of a computer or maybe drops of rain? Her favorite little button-down shirts now come with latex insets. I also love the berry color palette, both in the ladylike suits with oddly-gathered skirts, and on the lips! Also, this season had those divine pink lucite heels that are definitely at the top of my wish list.”
“The early ’90s collections were my blind spot going into this project, but the more time I spent with some of them, the more I found things I loved . The clothes are deceptively freaky. I love Naomi’s loose-leaf bright white satin tunic and matching cigarette trousers, an odd red and white vertical striped dress with strangely sculptural shoulder lines. But my favorite look is Carla Bruni in a bike short twinset complete with pillbox hat. It’s so prim it’s almost totally demented.”
Prada in the Nineties will be available on November 10, 2026.
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Source: Lifestyle
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