Luxury fashion fans are now well accustomed to the eye-watering prices of their favorite brands. In recent years, a classic Chanel handbag has tripled to £8,000, while Hermes’ turbo increases have done nothing to stop its 17 percent increase in sales in the final quarter of 2023. Designer dresses that routinely cost over £3,000 and even hoodies Costing up to £1,800, most fashion enthusiasts will admit that when it comes to checking the price tag of the coveted items on their wishlist, absolutely nothing would surprise them.
That is, until they saw Miu Miu’s £600 trousers. No; these are not ‘pants’ in the American sense, with a waistband, a zipper and two legs – features that could at least go some way to justifying their price. They’re not even Bridget Jones-esque ‘big underpants’, but as skimpy as they come. Low in the hips, high in the legs and form-fitting in the bottom, they conjure up images of deeply bronzed sunbathers in 1980s Ibiza, an impression reinforced by their colours, which include canary yellow, pistachio green, pillar red and bright orange.
But if you’re imagining that the pants’ exorbitant prices and provocative proportions have created a perfect storm of disinterest, you’re wrong. According to fashion technology company Lyst, Miu Miu pants currently rank high – or rather low – as the third most popular fashion item in the world.
These are the findings of the Lyst Index, a quarterly report that analyzes the online shopping behavior of more than 200 million shoppers, combining search, browsing and purchase history with social media mentions and engagement metrics to arrive at the bottom line.
Those who believe the world has finally gone mad should note that while overpriced yellow pants may seem frivolous, the thinking behind them is anything but. Fashion is a very serious business; one of the largest industries in the world. At a time when tough economic conditions have put even legendary brands like Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent in trouble – parent company Kering recently announced that group profits are likely to fall by 40 to 45 percent – it is particularly striking to see which brands are doing the same. doing well.
The brand doing it best is Miu Miu – a label whose recent results are anything but trousers. On Wednesday, its owner, the Prada Group, announced that Miu Miu sales rose 89 percent in the first quarter of 2024, building on 58 percent growth in 2023. Launched in 1992 as a more affordable ‘little sister’ range According to Prada, Miu Miu is currently overshadowing its older and more cerebral sibling, whose sales rose 7 percent over the same period. According to its research, Lyst ranks Miu Miu as the most popular brand in the world based on search data, with Prada in second place.
This is also not the result of mere hype, Lyst claims. “Miu Miu’s strong storytelling and cultural relevance sets it apart,” said Katy Lubin, vice president of communications at Lyst. “The brand is seen as hot, but also timeless. Shoppers also love the distinctive style, which has led to a new obsession with underwear as outerwear.”
Thanks to Miu Miu, the ‘pants for the day’ trend has been on the rise for a while now, with celebrities like Emma Corrin, Bella Hadid and Alexa Chung all recently sporting the daring look, as well as a host of influencers on TikTok and Instagram. Like all Miu Miu trousers (previous versions featured sequins and silk), the latest £600 pair is perfectly placed to provide those all-important viral moments that so successfully drive sales.
But if Miu Miu is smart at creating virality (its spring 2022 micro-mini was another huge hit on social media), there are other reasons for its tremendous success. First, it was designed by Miuccia Prada, the compelling 74-year-old Italian whose own sense of style recently landed her on the cover of American Fashion. Unlike many brands that have gone bankrupt since the death of their founders, Prada and Miu Miu retain a sense of authenticity combined with a strong point of view that many of their contemporaries lack.
Secondly, Miu Miu’s fashion shows are real talking points. The catwalk clothes not only accommodate a phalanx of the coolest actresses, singers and influencers in the front row, but are also far more attractive – and easier to wear – than the £600 trousers suggest. The most recent show, held in Paris in March, saw a diverse cast of women take to the catwalk, including supermodel Gigi Hadid, 29, rapper Little Simz, 30, and actress Kristin Scott Thomas, 63.
It’s unlikely that Scott Thomas will be seen in Miu Miu’s £600 trousers anytime soon, but the show’s casting nicely illustrated Miu Miu’s broad appeal among women in many different roles and stages of life. Most customers aren’t pants-wearing influencers, but cash-rich, time-poor professionals looking for stylish wardrobe solutions that fit their busy lives.
Although the trousers in the women’s fashion show were styled with shirts, sandals and trench coats, the unisex appeal has not been lost on men. “If I bought them in all the colors it would cost £4,200,” menswear stylist and consultant Simon Chilvers recently mused on Instagram. “Forced to choose one? It would be brown.” Many men have noted their similarity to Speedos, a range of skimpy swim briefs that were popular in the 1970s and 1980s.
Only Miu Miu could make parakeet smugglers (as the style was known) popular again. As for those who object to wearing them with nothing but a T-shirt and a smile, there is another way. Simply add a pair of jeans or shorts and pull up the waistband so that the all-important logo is visible. As Miuccia Prada said backstage after the show: “The point is that you can choose what you wear.” And – fortunately – how you wear it.
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