Miuccia Prada had a woman's place in the world on her mind while working on her Spring 2026 for Miu Miu. She told the crowd as much on the penultimate day of Paris Fashion Week by staging a runway show largely centered around a single item, one that's often a shorthand for a conservative brand of womanhood: the apron.
Anatomy of a Fall star Sandra Huller opened the show with a deep blue apron over a barn jacket and a blue shirt, with trousers pooling over her work boots. More models followed with the same square-neck style in cool tones, paired to a ribbon-tied bra top and neck scarf one moment and a second barn jacket the next.
As the 65-look collection kept walking, the aprons transformed. Shapes loosened up from utility, front-pocket designs to '60s-reminiscent crochet covered in itty-bitty flowers, thrown over polo shirts and ruffle-sleeve blouses, each with a retro printed neck scarf for contrast. By the show's finale, they came covered in silver studs and shimmering crystals. Marie Claire editor-in-chief Nikki Ogunnaike summarized the vibe on Instagram Stories: "Throw on your apron and hit the streets!"
Indeed, Miu Miu took aprons outside of their cooking-and-cleaning contexts. Nothing about the styling, with side-tied satin ribbons and checkered scarves, read "staying inside." Fashioned from black leather, with nothing but a bra underneath, an apron is even subversive.
In show notes, Prada called Spring 2026's lineup "a consideration of the work of women—their challenges, adversity, experience. Its invisibility is confronted and addressed, recognized, and valorized." No garment conveys this better than an apron, something so closely linked to labor historically considered as "women's work" (cleaning, cooking, running a household).
Nowadays, in a culture veering more traditionalist by the day, aprons are closely linked to "tradwife" influencers reinforcing a centuries-long stereotype of women as homemakers (and little else). Prada, who only became a designer after years as a student activist, is often interrogating womanhood and countering convention through her work. To her, aprons are a tool for living a life you choose, in clothes you want to wear.
Fashion critics and Miu Miu fans pore over each of its collections and place bets on the next accessory to reach It-item status. My money's on the golden charm belts accompanying a few of the layered top-and-trouser looks. But the point of this season wasn't to anoint the next pleated mini skirt or Arcadie bag—it was a pointed mid-fashion month reminder, when all-out glamour and fantastical styling are at the fore, that the reality of womanhood is a little messier than what a runway can present.
Miu Miu Spring 2026
