No sooner had Scarlett Johansson and Emma Watson settled into the front row in their elegant little black dresses than a curtain of slime began to ooze from the polished concrete ceiling of the Prada Foundation in Milan. The ick oozed in gummy ribbons, squelching on to the catwalk where it puddled in a scum of bubbles that the models deftly dodged in their pointed kitten heels.
Ugly chic is to Prada what molto sexy is to Versace. The slime – mesmerising, but yuck – was as much a classic motif at this Prada show as the knee-length pencil skirts and the neat grey sweaters. It made a point that the designer Miuccia Prada has been making for decades – that beauty is much more compelling with a little ugliness thrown in.
