Have you seen the jewellery of Miuccia Prada? The Italian fashion designer is a rightful style icon of our times, but one of the more under-appreciated aspects of her look is the gobsmackingly good jewellery she wears. From her public appearances and finale bows at fashion shows over the years, she’s worn some wondrous things: an outsized swirly diamond headband she’s said to have acquired from Fred Leighton; a hulking gold vintage Van Cleef & Arpels lion necklace that was obtained sometime around the summer of 2021—she told Tim Blanks in an interview that she was after “something a bit vulgar”.
The point is that Mrs Prada wears her baubles with aplomb. Then again, she has always had an idiosyncratic sensibility when it comes to evening dress. Never one for a gown, she’s more often seen at formal events wearing the kind of subtle, subversive clothing that is both her own personal style and the slant of her fashion label. Silk satin pyjamas in unmissable chartreuse shades, simple dress silhouettes with sequin or paillette embroidery that do the speaking, a statement shawl or stole to match, or a defining coat from the runway worn with Mrs Prada’s signature gesture of clutching it closed by hand.
What makes these looks shine tends to be her jewellery—and she wears these pieces with as much ease in the evening as in the day. The most fabulous pieces pair as swimmingly with silk satin as a cotton shirt and cashmere sweater. That’s one more thing to take away from Mrs Prada: she wears her jewels over and over. They’re distinctly her own, with visible favourites, and a sense of personality and individuality because they reappear. That’s just as well! The best jewels stand the test of time, and when they’re good they never go out of style.
One way that Mrs Prada keeps her jewellery looking fresh is styling it in novel, interesting new ways. There is a gorgeous pendant she wears with a massive centre stone—possibly an aquamarine—that she transforms with subtle touches. She’s layered it with a plaque necklace with an ostensibly similar style to create the trompe l’oeil illusion of an even bigger, bolder piece. She’s worn it layered with long diamond rivières to create a more textured look. She’s worn it nestled into the front of a feathered coat, so that it appears almost a part of the garment.
Mrs Prada loves pearls too. There is a three-row necklace of white pearls, possibly South Sea, that she plays around with. On its own with diamond brooches, or paired for subtle contrast with champagne hue Akoyas or black South Sea pearls. With a bit of inventiveness, something as seemingly simple on the surface as pearls can take on a wide range of ways to wear.
Something obvious is, of course, that the jewellery of Mrs Prada is not immediately identifiable. They are never branded, and in fact she tends to collect and wear vintage and antique jewellery. One source to consider, at which she is a famously loyal and long-time client, is the vintage and antique jewellery purveyor Gioielleria Pennisi in Milan. Her relationship with Pennisi is so strong that when the boutique published a book for its anniversary, Prada was enlisted to pen the introduction.
Antique jewels are not cheap, but it’s not to say that the takeaway from Mrs Prada’s style is only financial means. Rather, when you’re travelling in a new city, you might consider adding a vintage jewellery boutique to your list of must-see spots. Widen the eye and your taste for pieces that are not so obviously brand icons. A mix of younger jewellery designs or older pre-owned pieces with a history can come together just as chicly with a bit of imagination. Auction houses are a good way to start. Because signed jewellery from famous houses often command a premium and top lot attention, there are often beautiful unsigned vintage pieces (with more accessible prices) that get overlooked.
Else, you might go right to the source of a favourite jeweller. High jewellery brands are increasingly offering rarefied collections of their own vintage heritage pieces—a part of their own reacquisition processes that contribute to building their archival collections. Van Cleef & Arpels, for instance, actively reacquires pieces from its past. There are largely sourced for the maison’s patrimony and archives, though pieces the house already owns or that are similar can find a new home. These jewels and jewel objects, mostly created between the 1920s and 1990s, get cleaned, repaired if necessary, and are offered for sale in the maison’s Heritage collection. Cartier, as well, offers with regularity heritage pieces when it presents its new high jewellery collections.
And then there is the simple matter of having fun with your jewellery and even going faux. Miuccia Prada is often photographed at events with heavy hitter antique jewellery, but she’s also a proponent of wearing fun, colourful things that may or may not be very fancy. One of the Prada label’s most collectible bits of iconography is the banana, which came out as plexiglass jewels in the spring/summer 2011 collection. The banana lives on in the current collections—there’s a cute ring with an enamelled dangling banana that’s very au courant and right on the trend for charm jewels. You might also lean into the faux-fabulous spirit of costume jewellery, as many fashion labels have been doing, and consider a pair of earrings with massive aquamarine blue glass crystals. It’s one way to get the look of gobstopper jewels, as it were, without breaking the bank.
Consider the inimitable Mrs Prada a North Star jewel fiend of our times, some inspiration to charge you to seek things that are truly special, to challenge established ‘good’ taste, and to think of new ways of wearing familiar favourites. Here, a look at some of her best jewel looks over the years.
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Vintage Van Cleef & Arpels lion and Cartier ‘Jackie O’ gilt necklaces.
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1970 Omega ‘Teak’ watch designed by Andrew Grima.
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Vintage Van Cleef & Arpels lion necklace.
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Satin chartreuse worn with a bold necklace and a diamond armband.
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A favourite pendant necklace of Mrs Prada’s, worn nestled into feathers as if a trompe l’oeil brooch.
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Academician chic, worn with Etruscan Revival earrings.
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A pair of antique diamond flower brooches and a diamond headband.
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Plexiglass banana earrings from Prada spring/summer 2011.
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A fabulous diamond headband that easily outdoes a tiara.
