For the Miu Miu Spring 2020 RTW runway show in the Palais d’Iena in Paris, AMO alters the rigor of August Perret’s Salle Hypostyle, inserting an off-centered installation of unbalanced monumentality.

“Something raw, simple, naive, not a big deal. Suggesting a way of dressing, and after they’re free to do their own thing. That is even reflected in the wood, the set, like theaters where people used to do improvisation,” said Miucci Prada.

The collection was inspired by a group of young women with home-crimped late-1940s/early-1950s hair, doing their level best to be Italian-movie-star glamorous in a time of postwar make do and mend.

The idea of altering, remaking, and sex-ifying a wardrobe that might be limited by resources—but never by indomitable female ingenuity—came through. These were girls who seemed to have altered the buttons on their coats; made new summer dresses by patching the top of a satin cocktail dress to a printed curtain; decided to add a flounce to a skirt or a shoulder strap with a bit of spare fabric; maybe even painted the flowers on their leather coats themselves. There were Miu Miu demonstrations of how to make even the scrappiest, rattiest old knitwear off-the-shoulder sexy.

The accessories spelled Italian ingenuity in times of scarce resources—unmistakable references to the type of wooden wedges made famous by Salvatore Ferragamo; to the bamboo made into bag handles by Guccio Gucci.

Watch as celebrity attendees offer their thoughts on Miu Miu’s eccentric collection of chic Italianwear.