Prada’s roomy dresses are an answer to restrictive women’s fashion, while Max Mara aims for ‘the corridors of power’

Backstage after the Prada show, someone asked Miuccia Prada if the four loose black dresses with which it began were a comment on fashion’s obsession with the Little Black Dress.

The designer laughed. “No. We are in a very black moment. This is a very difficult time. It is not my job to be political but, every time you open a newspaper – oh my God! My job is to think about what clothes a woman can wear. About what kind of femininity makes sense in a moment like this.”