Miu Miu Fall 1997 Ready-to-Wear

Editor’s Note: We continue our tradition of expanding the Vogue Runway archive by digitizing collections originally shot on film, with a quartet of shows from Miu Miu, which had back-to-back hits in 2023 with the pantless look and neo-prep polo looks. Here, the brand’s circus-themed fall 1997 lineup, which was presented in London in March 1997.

“Miu Miu is romantic but edgy,” Claire Danes told The Evening Standard from her front-row perch at Miu Miu’s fall 1997 show, which was presented in London. The actress spoke from experience, having worn the brand in Romeo + Juliet. What this collection had in common with the Baz Luhrmann movie was an underlying sense of forbidden pleasures. According to designer Miuccia Prada, it followed the story of “of a very young girl”—a clotheshorse—“working at the circus.”

The heroine’s age was emphasized by leg-revealing minis. There were traces of school uniforms in the neat pleated skirts with see-through knit tops and tailored jackets and coats in serious gray. For her inner acrobat, Prada included sports elements, such as heavy knits and woolens cut into pullovers and zip-front “hoodies.” Bedazzled shoes, meanwhile, let our protagonist bring a bit of the big top with her wherever she goes.