The parameters of luxury fashion are being recalibrated by some of the same companies that have shaped its exclusive past, and Prada Group’s Miu Miu is among those brands.
Miu Miu introduced Tuesday its first-ever collaboration with Levi’s. The Upcycled by Miu Miu collection features pre-owned denim revamped with the Italian label’s playful use of embellishment and color. The collection specifically centers on vintage “Made in USA” men’s 501 jeans and Trucker jackets from the 1980s and 1990s but restyled with women in mind.
The designs, according to Miu Miu, are a play on “masculinity and femininity” and tap into the emerging trend for regal adornments and glamour. No two pieces in the collection are the same.
The vintage denim is hand-embellished with “instantly recognizable” Miu Miu crystal, pearl, floral and all-over diamanté embroideries. Trucker jackets are updated with on-trend puffed sleeves and jeans are elevated with bold leather patches featuring Art Deco-inspired intarsia motifs. Other jeans are finished with ivory silk duchesse turn-ups and jackets are adorned with oversized white lace collars.
Each garment features a co-branded backpatch in Miu Miu’s signature pink. The finishing touch is a specially commissioned Miu Miu carrier bag stamped with the Levi’s logo in return.
Miu Miu “muses” actor Emma Corrin and models Lila Moss and Georgia Palmer are featured in the campaign for the collection, which will launch in mid-May. It will be available first at London Selfridges and Shanghai IAPM. Afterwards, the collection will be available at Dover Street Market Los Angeles, 18 Miu Miu stores worldwide and on miumiu.com.
The first Upcycled by Miu Miu collection, a line of 80 reworked vintage dresses dating from the 1930s to the 1980s, debuted last year. The restored dresses were finished with Miu Miu’s embroideries and embellishments.
Upcycled garments and fabrics were one of the strongest sustainable messages from 2020’s runways. A number of designers like Gabriela Hearst, Collina Strada and Marni strayed away from virgin materials, instead opting for deadstock fabrics, most of which they sourced from previous collections, as their new upcycled medium. Fashion search engine Tagwalk reported that 14.4 percent of S/S ’21 collections featured sustainable, upcycled or responsible products or ways of producing—213 percent more compared with F/W ’20-21.
Miu Miu’s sister brand Prada is dabbling in sustainable denim as well. The brand recently launched an organic cotton denim line based on simple silhouettes like work shirts, shift dresses, cropped jean jackets and Bermuda shorts. Each garment features Prada’s enameled metal triangle logo.
Levi’s is a go-to collaborator for luxury brands stepping into denim. During the company’s first-quarter earnings call, Levi Strauss & Co. president and CEO Chip Bergh said the company is gearing up to launch its high-end collaboration with Valentino this spring at retailers like Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue and Bergdorf Goodman.
Earlier this year, Levi’s teamed with Ganni for a second range of elevated co-branded denim made with cottonized hemp.