Prada graduated from Liceo Classico Berchet high school in Milan.
College/University
Gallery of Miuccia Prada
Via Festa del Perdono, 7, 20122 Milano MI, Italy
Before taking over the family business, Miuccia earned a Ph.D. in Political science at the University of Milan.
Career
Gallery of Miuccia Prada
1992
Miuccia Prada at a photographic exhibition, 1992. (Photo by Rose Hartman)
Gallery of Miuccia Prada
1993
New York City, NY, USA
Miuccia Prada attends the CFDA Awards, New York City, circa 1993. (Photo by Rose Hartman)
Gallery of Miuccia Prada
1996
New York City, NY, USA
Miuccia Prada with American film and stage actor, Willem Dafoe, at the Prada boutique opening party, New York City, USA, 1996. (Photo by Rose Hartman)
Gallery of Miuccia Prada
1996
USA
Miuccia Prada at her Miu Miu Fall 1995 Collection fashion show, United States, 1995. (Photo by Rose Hartman)
Gallery of Miuccia Prada
2013
Calle de Ca’ Corner, 30135 Santa Croce, Venezia VE, Italy
Miuccia Prada and Francois Pinault attend a private lunch and preview of "When Attitudes Become Form: Bern 1969/Venice 2013" hosted by Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli at Fondazione Prada's Ca' Corner Della Regina, Venice, on May 29, 2013, in Venice, Italy. (Photo by Vittorio Zunino Celotto
Gallery of Miuccia Prada
2013
Calle de Ca’ Corner, 30135 Santa Croce, Venezia VE, Italy
Patrizio Bertelli and Miuccia Prada attend the opening cocktail of "When Attitudes Become Form: Bern 1969/Venice 2013" exhibition at Fondazione Prada's Ca' Corner Della Regina, Venice, on May 29, 2013, in Venice, Italy. (Photo by Venturelli)
Gallery of Miuccia Prada
2013
Milan, Italy
Giuliano Pisapia, Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli attend the Prada cocktail party as a part of Milan Fashion Week Womenswear Spring/Summer 2014 on September 20, 2013, in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Vittorio Zunino Celotto)
Gallery of Miuccia Prada
2014
Paris, France
Miuccia Prada and her husband attend the 'Jeff Koons' Retrospective Exhibition: Private Visit at Beaubourg on November 23, 2014, in Paris, France. (Photo by Bertrand Rindoff Petroff)
Gallery of Miuccia Prada
2015
Milan, Italy
Patrizio Bertelli, Miuccia Prada, Mateo renzi and Rem Koolhaas attend the Fondazione Prada Opening on May 3, 2015, in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Vittorio Zunino Celotto)
Gallery of Miuccia Prada
2015
Milan, Italy
Miuccia Prada, Patrizio Bertelli, Giuliano Pisapia and Cinzia Sasso attend the Fondazione Prada Opening on May 3, 2015, in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Vittorio Zunino Celotto)
Gallery of Miuccia Prada
2015
11 W 53rd St, New York, NY 10019, United States
Miuccia Prada attends the WSJ. Magazine 2015 Innovator Awards at the Museum of Modern Art on November 4, 2015, in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris)
Gallery of Miuccia Prada
2017
Largo Isarco, 2, 20139 Milano MI, Italy
Katie Grand and Miuccia Prada attend a 'Private view of 'TV 70: Francesco Vezzoli Guarda La Rai' at Fondazione Prada on May 7, 2017 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Jacopo Raule)
Gallery of Miuccia Prada
2017
Palais des Festivals et des Congrès, 1 Boulevard de la Croisette, 06400 Cannes, France
Miuccia Prada attends the "Carne Y Arena" Photocall during the 70th annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 22, 2017, in Cannes, France. (Photo by Antonio de Moraes Barros Filho)
Gallery of Miuccia Prada
2017
12 Place de l'Étang, 06400 Cannes, France
Elle Fanning, Gael Garcia Bernal, and Miuccia Prada attend Fondazione Prada Private Dinner during the 70th annual Cannes Film Festival at Restaurant Fred L'Ecailler on May 22, 2017, in Cannes, France. (Photo by Antony Jones)
Gallery of Miuccia Prada
2017
Piazza della Scala, 2, 20121 Milano MI, Italy
Miuccia Prada (L) and Anna Wintour attend a private dinner hosted by Livia Firth following the Green Carpet Fashion Awards, Italia, at Palazzo Marino on September 24, 2017, in Milan, Italy. (Photo by David M. Benett)
Gallery of Miuccia Prada
2018
New York City, NY, USA
Miuccia Prada and Designer Raf Simons attend the Prada Resort 2019 fashion show on May 4, 2018, in New York City. (Photo by Sean Zanni)
Gallery of Miuccia Prada
2018
2 Place des Pyramides, 75001 Paris, France
Uma Thurman and Miuccia Prada attend Miu Miu 2019 Cruise Collection Party at Hotel Regina on June 30, 2018, in Paris, France. (Photo by Dominique Charriau)
Gallery of Miuccia Prada
2018
Milan, Italy
Miuccia Prada, Spike Lee, and Sofia Coppola attend Prada Spring/Summer 2019 Womenswear Fashion Show on September 20, 2018, in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Vittorio Zunino Celotto)
Gallery of Miuccia Prada
2018
13 Masons Yard, St. James's, London SW1Y 6BU, United Kingdom
Miuccia Prada, Patrizio Bertelli and Hans-Ulrich Obrist attend a party hosted by Katie Grand and Jefferson Hack in honor of Miuccia Prada, winner of the Outstanding Achievement award at the 2018 Fashion Awards, at The Scotch of St James on December 10, 2018, in London, England. (Photo by David M. Benett)
Gallery of Miuccia Prada
2019
New York City, NY, USA
Miuccia Prada walks the runway during the Prada Resort 2020 Collection on May 02, 2019, in New York City. (Photo by Mike Coppola)
Gallery of Miuccia Prada
2019
Venice, Italy
Pedro Almodóvar and Miuccia Prada attend a celebration as Pedro Almodovar is awarded the Golden Lion for lifetime achievement during the 76th Venice Film Festival at Scuola Grande della Misericordia on August 29, 2019, in Venice, Italy. (Photo by Maria Moratti)
Gallery of Miuccia Prada
2019
Paris, France
Miuccia Prada walks the runway after the Miu Miu Womenswear Spring/Summer 2020 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on October 01, 2019, in Paris, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain)
Gallery of Miuccia Prada
New York City, NY, USA
Uma Thurman, Miuccia Prada, and Hailee Steinfeld attend the Prada Resort 2020 fashion show at Prada Headquarters on May 02, 2019, in New York City. (Photo by Jared Siskin)
Achievements
Membership
Awards
CFDA International Designer Award
2004
Prada with her CFDA International Designer Award
British Fashion Award
2013
London Coliseum, St Martin's Ln, London WC2N 4ES, United Kingdom
Gwyneth Paltrow and Miuccia Prada with the award for International Designer of the Year pose in the winners room at the British Fashion Awards 2013 at London Coliseum on December 2, 2013, in London, England. (Photo by Stuart C. Wilson)
The Fashion Award
2018
Kensington Gore, South Kensington, London SW7 2AP, United Kingdom
Miuccia Prada poses backstage at The Fashion Awards 2018 in partnership with Swarovski at the Royal Albert Hall on December 10, 2018, in London, England. (Photo by David M. Benett)
London Coliseum, St Martin's Ln, London WC2N 4ES, United Kingdom
Gwyneth Paltrow and Miuccia Prada with the award for International Designer of the Year pose in the winners room at the British Fashion Awards 2013 at London Coliseum on December 2, 2013, in London, England. (Photo by Stuart C. Wilson)
Calle de Ca’ Corner, 30135 Santa Croce, Venezia VE, Italy
Miuccia Prada and Francois Pinault attend a private lunch and preview of "When Attitudes Become Form: Bern 1969/Venice 2013" hosted by Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli at Fondazione Prada's Ca' Corner Della Regina, Venice, on May 29, 2013, in Venice, Italy. (Photo by Vittorio Zunino Celotto
Calle de Ca’ Corner, 30135 Santa Croce, Venezia VE, Italy
Patrizio Bertelli and Miuccia Prada attend the opening cocktail of "When Attitudes Become Form: Bern 1969/Venice 2013" exhibition at Fondazione Prada's Ca' Corner Della Regina, Venice, on May 29, 2013, in Venice, Italy. (Photo by Venturelli)
Giuliano Pisapia, Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli attend the Prada cocktail party as a part of Milan Fashion Week Womenswear Spring/Summer 2014 on September 20, 2013, in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Vittorio Zunino Celotto)
Miuccia Prada and her husband attend the 'Jeff Koons' Retrospective Exhibition: Private Visit at Beaubourg on November 23, 2014, in Paris, France. (Photo by Bertrand Rindoff Petroff)
Patrizio Bertelli, Miuccia Prada, Mateo renzi and Rem Koolhaas attend the Fondazione Prada Opening on May 3, 2015, in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Vittorio Zunino Celotto)
Miuccia Prada, Patrizio Bertelli, Giuliano Pisapia and Cinzia Sasso attend the Fondazione Prada Opening on May 3, 2015, in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Vittorio Zunino Celotto)
Miuccia Prada attends the WSJ. Magazine 2015 Innovator Awards at the Museum of Modern Art on November 4, 2015, in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris)
Katie Grand and Miuccia Prada attend a 'Private view of 'TV 70: Francesco Vezzoli Guarda La Rai' at Fondazione Prada on May 7, 2017 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Jacopo Raule)
Palais des Festivals et des Congrès, 1 Boulevard de la Croisette, 06400 Cannes, France
Miuccia Prada attends the "Carne Y Arena" Photocall during the 70th annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 22, 2017, in Cannes, France. (Photo by Antonio de Moraes Barros Filho)
Elle Fanning, Gael Garcia Bernal, and Miuccia Prada attend Fondazione Prada Private Dinner during the 70th annual Cannes Film Festival at Restaurant Fred L'Ecailler on May 22, 2017, in Cannes, France. (Photo by Antony Jones)
Miuccia Prada (L) and Anna Wintour attend a private dinner hosted by Livia Firth following the Green Carpet Fashion Awards, Italia, at Palazzo Marino on September 24, 2017, in Milan, Italy. (Photo by David M. Benett)
Kensington Gore, South Kensington, London SW7 2AP, United Kingdom
Miuccia Prada poses backstage at The Fashion Awards 2018 in partnership with Swarovski at the Royal Albert Hall on December 10, 2018, in London, England. (Photo by David M. Benett)
Uma Thurman and Miuccia Prada attend Miu Miu 2019 Cruise Collection Party at Hotel Regina on June 30, 2018, in Paris, France. (Photo by Dominique Charriau)
Miuccia Prada, Spike Lee, and Sofia Coppola attend Prada Spring/Summer 2019 Womenswear Fashion Show on September 20, 2018, in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Vittorio Zunino Celotto)
13 Masons Yard, St. James's, London SW1Y 6BU, United Kingdom
Miuccia Prada, Patrizio Bertelli and Hans-Ulrich Obrist attend a party hosted by Katie Grand and Jefferson Hack in honor of Miuccia Prada, winner of the Outstanding Achievement award at the 2018 Fashion Awards, at The Scotch of St James on December 10, 2018, in London, England. (Photo by David M. Benett)
Pedro Almodóvar and Miuccia Prada attend a celebration as Pedro Almodovar is awarded the Golden Lion for lifetime achievement during the 76th Venice Film Festival at Scuola Grande della Misericordia on August 29, 2019, in Venice, Italy. (Photo by Maria Moratti)
Miuccia Prada walks the runway after the Miu Miu Womenswear Spring/Summer 2020 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on October 01, 2019, in Paris, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain)
Uma Thurman, Miuccia Prada, and Hailee Steinfeld attend the Prada Resort 2020 fashion show at Prada Headquarters on May 02, 2019, in New York City. (Photo by Jared Siskin)
Miuccia Prada is an Italian fashion designer and businesswoman best known as the head of Prada, a fashion powerhouse that specializes in luxury goods for men and women. Over the years, the brand became a household name for fine leather luggage as well as vanity cases, tortoiseshell hairbrushes, and walking canes designed for the Italian royal family.
Background
Miuccia Prada was born as Maria Bianchi on May 10, 1949, in Milan, Italy. She was the second of three children. Prada was born into an affluent family. Her father, Luigi "Gino" Bianchi, headed a company that manufactured putting-green mowers. Her mother, Luisa, was an heiress to the luxury-goods company then known as Fratelli Prada (Prada Brothers), of which Luisa became head in 1958.
Miuccia was the youngest granddaughter of Mario Prada, who started the Prada fashion line in 1913 by manufacturing well-crafted, high-end suitcases, handbags, and steamer trunks for the Milanese elite. She also has two siblings, Albert and Marina Bianchi, of which she was the middle child.
It wasn’t until the late 1980s that she took up the name "Miuccia Prada" when she asked her unmarried maternal aunt to adopt her so she could officially hold the Prada surname and thus be legally allowed to take over the reins of her family’s company.
Education
Prada graduated from Liceo Classico Berchet high school in Milan. Before taking over the family business, Miuccia earned a Ph.D. in Political science at the University of Milan.
Italian brothers Mario and Martino Prada opened their leather goods shop, Fratelli Prada (Prada Brothers), in Milan in 1913. Although Mario didn't believe women should be in the workplace, his sons showed little interest in the family business, and his daughters Luisa and Nanda took over. Luisa's daughter Miuccia Prada would go on to join the family business in the ’70s.
Three generations deep, Miuccia Prada inherited the company in 1978. As co-chief executive officer alongside husband Patrizio Bertelli, she implemented changes at the company that still resonate today. In 1978 she succeeded her mother as head of the company - which had by then shrunk to only a single store - and hired as her primary supplier the Italian businessman Patrizio Bertelli, a leather-goods manufacturer whom she had met the previous year at a trade fair where he was selling Fratelli Prada knockoffs.
As head designer, she began working to revive the company. One of her earliest ideas included fashioning a line of unlabeled handbags out of a then unorthodox fabric called Pocono nylon - the durable water-resistant fabric often used to make military tents. However, the line, launched in 1979, was not immediately successful. In the 1980s Miuccia Prada began to globally expand the company, opening additional stores beginning in 1983 and launching a shoe line in 1984.
Prada began gaining popularity in 1985 when she unveiled a series of black nylon handbags and backpacks with understated labeling - a stark contrast to the logo-heavy clothes that dominated the fashion world at the time. Four years later, Prada, who has no formal fashion training, introduced a line of ready-to-wear women's clothes that she called "uniforms for the slightly disenfranchised."
Working closely with Patrizio Bertelli, her future husband, Miuccia Prada quickly grew the business into a powerhouse. In the early 1990s, Prada continued to expand the brand, launching a perfume line and several spin-off clothing lines including the more affordable Miu Miu (1992), her nickname. Three years later, the company unveiled a line of men's clothing.
In the years since, Prada has continued its upward trajectory, introducing other new lines, and buying a stake in or just buying up competitors, including Fendi, Helmut Lang, Jil Sander, and Church & Company, among others. In 2002, it was reported that Miuccia Prada had annual revenues of more than $1.9 billion. Prada has always blazed her own trail and demonstrated a fearlessness in trying new styles. Her experimentation once included a raincoat that was transparent until it became wet, at which point it turned opaque. In 2004, she dazzled a front row of critics at a show with a collection of souvenir clothes that included straw hats and embroidered moccasins.
In 2010, she designed costumes for the Verdi opera "Attila" at the New York City Metropolitan Opera House. She is now the co-CEO for Prada, together with her husband. In 2011 Miuccia oversaw Prada’s initial public offering in Hong Kong, which raised approximately $2.1 billion.
In 2020 the Italian brand announced Raf Simons, who has previously designed for Jil Sander, Christian Dior, and Calvin Klein will be working alongside Miuccia Prada as co-creative director with equal responsibilities for creative decision-making.
Prada is renowned as an owner of a fashion powerhouse that specializes in luxury goods for men and women. In March 2013, Miuccia Prada was one of the fifty best-dressed over 50 by the Guardian. In 2014 she was listed as the 75th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes.
Without any formal fashion training, Prada transformed her family business into a multibillion-dollar fashion powerhouse. Miuccia Prada became the 2010 McKim Medal Laureate at the Villa Aurelia of the American Academy in Rome in May 2010. The medal was awarded to the designer in recognition for her exceptional achievements in fashion and business, as well as her contribution to the visual arts.
Prada has received numerous accolades for her work, including the CFDA International Designer Award in 2004 and the first International Designer of the Year at the 2013 British Fashion Awards. As of 2017, she is listed as the 79th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes. In 2018, the British Fashion Council awarded Miuccia Prada the Outstanding Achievement Award at The Fashion Awards 2018.
Religion
Miuccia Prada is a Roman Catholic.
Politics
Prada was known to be a member of the Communist Party and a champion for women's rights during the seventies in Milan.
Views
Prada is a feminist. In an interview with Newsweek, Prada revealed that because she’s a feminist, for a very long time she hated the idea of working in fashion, noting that she only recently stopped feeling ill at ease about it. "I realized that so many clever people respect fashion so much," she explained before adding that she sees fashion as a way of investigating architecture, art, and film.
In 1993 she founded the PradaMilanoarte, later renamed the Prada Foundation (Fondazione Prada), a nonprofit organization dedicated to the support of various up-and-coming contemporary designers, including architects and artists.
Prada Group supported the Coronavirus emergency through different initiatives. First, by responding to the request of the Tuscany Region, producing in its factories and thanks to the help of its suppliers, 110,000 masks, and 80,000 medical overalls for the healthcare personnel.
Through personal donations from Prada Group’s CEOs Patrizio Bertelli and Miuccia Prada and Chairman Carlo Mazzi, two complete intensive care and reanimation units to each of three hospitals in Milan: Vittore Buzzi, Sacco, and San Raffaele. Finally Miuccia Prada, with a personal donation to the LILT (The Italian League in the fight against cancer), has doubled the amount of lungs ventilators and surgical masks for the San Gerardo Hospital in Monza.
In 2019, the Prada announced intention to no longer use animal fur in design and new products. In collaboration with the Fur Free Alliance (FFA) - a coalition of more than 50 animal protection organizations in over 40 countries - the Prada Group announcement was one of its bold engagements toward more sustainable practices and business models.
Quotations:
"It's horrible when people are only interested in buying labels because it doesn't bring them the happiness they think it will."
"What you wear is how you present yourself to the world, especially today when human contacts go so fast. Fashion is instant language."
"Many of us grew up with a kind of puritanism against shopping. But shopping can be much more than how it is cast. If you are bored or you have problems, it can be a way of lifting your spirits, by doing something light and superficial. Why not?"
"Women often don't want to admit that they like fashion. And yet fashion enthralls everyone, from the taxi driver to the mega-intellectual. I have often asked myself why this is. I don't know the answer."
Personality
Miuccia Prada rarely gives interviews to the press and often ends her runway shows by taking a quick bow or wave to her rapturous audience before quickly darting off backstage to avoid the cameras aimed at her direction. Even with her fame, Miuccia always makes sure to stay grounded.
Miuccia is an avid collector of contemporary art and owns several artworks by Young British Artist, a group primarily active during the 1990s, its major members are Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, and Jake and Dinos Chapman.
Interests
Artists
Young British Artist
Sport & Clubs
soccer, A.C. Milan
Connections
Miuccia Prada is married to Patrizio Bertelli, a businessman. Their two sons were born in 1988 and 1990. One of her sons is the former rally driver Lorenzo Bertelli.
Father:
Luigi "Gino" Bianchi
Mother:
Luisa Prada
Spouse:
Patrizio Bertelli
The couple met in 1977 at a Milanese trade fair, where Bertelli was in attendance representing his own leather goods company. Prada describes her husband as "far more of a provocateur" than herself.
It was Bertelli that pushed her to design womenswear ready-to-wear, and it was Bertelli again who pushed Prada to design menswear in the 1990s.
Son:
Lorenzo Bertelli
Lorenzo Bertelli retired from his career as a race car driver to join the luxury group and head up its marketing and communications in September 2017.
Son:
Giulio Bertelli
Giulio Bertelli inherited the artistic sense of the family but decided to focus it on architecture and dedicates his free time to sailing, a hobby that he inherited directly from his father.
Brother:
Albert Prada
Sister:
Marina Prada
Marina Prada and her siblings, Miuccia and Alberto, inherited a share of Prada, the handbag and fashion empire founded by their grandfather in 1913.
