Miu Miu: Clear as the Driven Gauze

First you see it then you don't was the motto of the charmingly pretty and agreeably eccentric Miu Miu collection that closed the Paris season on a nippy Sunday night.

Fashion's most influential designer Miuccia Prada had her tongue planted firmly in her cheek in a collection that played girlishly with volume and jokingly repeated silhouette's and outfits in the second half of the show, but in transparent gauze and gazzar.

Her opening looks, a foursome of sophisticated prep school swots in camel hair jackets and coats with humongous flared skirts pulled no punches. La Signora prefers cerebral to sexy any day. They seemed thoroughly at home trotting on the catwalk of the mansion on Avenue Foche, let's not forget, Paris' priciest address. On their feet, court shoes with little leather wings or fabric fins suggested they would fly through their university careers.

This season, Miu Miu included guys on the runway, as the label skipped the Milan men's catwalks in January. Her felt-suited men in beige and washed out green wore matching shirts and shoes, underlining their Organization Man attitude.

Her best women's looks were beautiful worsted silk coats – one on model Danijela Dimitrovska had editors noses twitching and pens scribbling – beautiful pill box red cropped riding jackets and a few flared leather skirts in primary colors. These latter echoed the opening images in the Prada signature collections, though in a more nonchalant mode.

Eight looks into the show, Miuccia began stripping the gals into gauze, skimpy cashmere and even loose tweed minis, redingotes and hoop skirts, the most special worn by model Gemma Ward. Were they the designer's response to allegations that Italy was now in the Age of the trollop? Maybe, because you can hardly accuse gals of being tarts when all of them wear knee socks, as these models did when they took the final bow of the international women's ready-to-wear season.

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