Miuccia Prada, a biography through her most iconic looks

«What you wear is your way of presenting yourself to the world, especially today that we live in an era where human contact is so rapid. Fashion is an instant language." Born Maria Bianchi , she has been called Miuccia since she was a child, but for those in the sector she is just "Lady" . Berchet high school, sixty-eight, feminist. During her university years she joined the PCI "Carlo Marx" section of Porta Romana , the neighborhood where the family building is located - where she has still lived since she was born in 1948. «Anyone who was curious in those days was left-wing. But our PCI was conservative: the kids went with the student movement. I was the area representative of the Italian Women's Union. Serious stuff." In 1971 she joined the family business - founded by her grandfather Mario in 1913 - after graduating in political science from the University of Milan and having studied acting at the Piccolo Teatro. There she met her future husband Patrizio Bertelli with whom she inaugurated a personal and professional partnership. The inverted triangle - the company's new logo - arrived in the 1980s, as did the new technical materials (among all Re-Nylon). « Women are often unwilling to admit how much they like fashion. Yet everyone likes fashion, from the taxi driver to the mega-intellectual. I have often wondered why this happens. I do not know the answer". The first line of shoes dates back to 1983 and the first women's ready-to-wear collection in 1988. In 1993 she made her debut with Miu Miu , in 1995 with Prada men and after two years with the sports line, Linea Rossa . Always passionate about art and jewellery, in 1995 she founded the Foundation that bears the family name with her husband, which now has four offices, two in Milan, Venice and Shanghai. In the world of fashion, top figures are often mythologised. However, the "Lady" has always retained a naïve spirit (or perhaps it's just a lot of pragmatism, a very Milanese quality) accompanied by a large dose of sarcasm. When she had the artist Carsten Höller build a slide that starts from her office and arrives in the company courtyard in Via Bergamo she says ironically: «The idea is that, while one goes down, at least for a moment she is happy».