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Bonjour Millionaire,
This is my favorite Miu Miu ad of late. I like flavor notes spelled out as things. I'm getting berry flower vanilla (also known as fruity and floral and sweet) - you?? |
Was this email forwarded to you? |
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ON THIS EPISODE OF GO-TO-MILLIONS |
Prada was turning 80 that year. Miuccia Prada, the youngest granddaughter of founder Mario Prada, wanted to mix things up with a more youthful, less expensive womenswear line.
She gave it her childhood nickname. ICYMI: It’s pronounced “Mew Mew.” I’ll admit it: I didn’t realize Miu Miu was owned by Prada until very recently. By “very recently,” I mean this year. 🙁 And, I’ve waited in line to get into a Miu Miu store!
Miu Miu is a little sister brand. But this little sister brand is NOT wearing Prada’s flimsier hand-me-downs, like some ordinary diffusion line. Miu Miu’s got a look, style, and lore all its own. |
The devil wears Prada. The baddie wears Miu Miu. There are fashionistas who’d choose Miu Miu OVER Prada, any day, at any price. I’m one of them. Well, I aspire to be. I just don’t know if I’m cool enough to pull it off.
Here’s how Miu Miu avoided common diffusion line downfalls to become the world’s hottest fashion brand. To really understand Miu Miu, you need some background on Prada. Prada was founded in Milan in 1913 as a leather goods shop. Brothers Mario and Martino Prada originally imported English steamer trunks and animal goods (fur, snakeskin, leather, etc.) and eventually started making bags, trunks, and jewelry cases. In 1919, the Italian Royal House made Prada its official supplier. That’s how Prada got the House of Savoy coat of arms on its logo. |
Prada was a family business, but Mario refused to let the women get involved. They weren’t even allowed to work in the shop. Until 1958 when his good-for-nothing son declined to take over. Mario’s daughter Luisa (a woman! gasp!) raised her hand and shrewdly steered Prada toward greater profitability and prestige. The Golden Age of Air Travel was taking off. Luisa made the call to pivot from steamer trunks to airline-ready luggage. I can’t find a picture of Luisa anywhere. She never got the credit or respect she deserved. But she knew what was best for Prada, and in 1978, she passed the torch to her youngest daughter Miuccia (another woman! gasp!). |
Before Miuccia was a billionaire fashion mogul, she was a communist academic and trained mime. Yes, that kind of mime. Suddenly my single year of law school doesn’t feel like a wash… |
Prada wasn’t an internationally recognized fashion brand back then. It was exclusive, but more local, and only known for leather goods. When Miuccia took over, she wasted no time shaking things up.
She launched footwear with boyfriend Patrizio Bertelli in 1979. (They married 8 years later.) |
She opened a second Milan boutique and painted the walls light green in 1983. “Prada green” is now synonymous with the brand. |
She made a black nylon backpack the anti-status symbol status symbol in 1984. And, priced it higher than the brand’s leather bags! |
Good enough for Linda Evangelista in 1989, good enough for me. Le photo credit |
She launched the first women’s ready-to-wear collection in 1988. (Menswear wouldn’t debut until 1995. Take that, Nonno!) By the early ‘90s, Prada was on every fashionista’s radar. And, Miuccia was a little restless. She wanted to design something different: youthful fashion that was subversively feminine. Vintage-inspired, but experimental. All without taking itself too seriously.
Putting a Prada label on this new aesthetic would’ve been like trying to fit a round piece in a minimalist square brand.
So Miuccia created Miu Miu. It’s a tale as old as time, though maybe not as old as Prada. Fashion designers usually create diffusion lines as a massification strategy. Less expensive products are sold at less exclusive stores and bring in a broader customer base.
From its launch, Miu Miu was treated like its own brand, not just some Prada side hustle. It looked and felt like a new creative outlet for Miuccia Prada, not a cash grab. |
Most diffusion lines have a name that either pays homage to or flat-out namedrops the more established big sister brand. Armani has Armani Exchange and Emporio Armani.
Ralph Lauren has Polo Ralph Lauren. Donna Karan has DKNY. Not Miu Miu. IYKYK. If you don’t, it doesn’t really matter. Miu Miu’s clothing and accessories might be sliiiiiiightly less expensive than Prada’s, but they’re still luxe.
Elevated materials. High quality construction. Trend-setting, not trend-following, design. Because the same fashion visionary, Miuccia, oversees Prada AND Miu Miu.
This is extremely unusual. You didn’t think Michael Kors was involved in creating that top your mom bought at Kohl’s, did you? You won’t find Miu Miu at T.J. Maxx. But, if you do, text me immediately.
For all of these reasons, Miu Miu immediately attracted celebrity admirers who became models in campaigns and on the runway. Drew Barrymore and Chloe Sevigny were early Miu Miu girls. |
Gigi Hadid, Hailey Bieber, and pre-great jeans Sidney Sweeney are more recent Miu Miu girls.
If you have a few hours to obsessively go down a rabbit hole and add to your shopping list spare, all of Miu Miu’s campaigns are online. |
Chic on Gigi, Twix bar on me. Why can’t I be a Miu Miu girl?! Le photo credit |
The brand had a menswear line from 1999-2008, but Miu Miu’s always been about the girls. Girls in all their contradictions, quirks, and sometimes competing desires. Girls who want to be young and free, but also taken seriously.
Girls who care only about the things they’ve decided are worth caring about.
Girls like Miuccia, who earned a Ph.D in Political Science before taking over her Nonno’s business and running it better than he ever could.
On the runway, Miu Miu models have been known to wear colorful band-aids on their blistered feet. Sometimes their hair’s uncombed or wet. |
Occasionally, they wear wrinkled shirts that suggest someone’s alarm didn’t go off. Wait, maybe I AM a Miu Miu girl. In 2022, the New York Times declared the Miu Miu girl “the most wanted girl in fashion.” That same year, Miu Miu broke TikTok with a viral micro-miniskirt that looked like a private school dress code violation in the best way. |
AND Miu Miu brought back menswear, while also embracing more gender-neutral fashion. |
So has Quin Huilan, a 70-year-old retired doctor and first-time model. |
32 years in, Miu Miu is somehow more relevant than ever.
The shopping platform Lyst, which creates its Lyst Index based on web searches and shopping behavior, named Miu Miu Brand of the Year in 2022, 2023, and 2024. Prada’s fighting to remain in the top 5. Luxury’s down overall in 2025, but Miu Miu’s holding its big sister down, with a 49% increase in sales YoY.
Miuccia, now 76, is still the driving creative force behind Miu Miu. But, she’s also adept at bringing in smart, cool people to help evolve the brand while reminding everyone that Miu Miu’s BEEN that girl. Over the years, the brand’s attracted a who’s who of creative collaborators, like stylist Lotta Volkova and designer Stefano Pilati, later known for his work at YSL.
Not to mention all the lesser-known designers, photographers, and dare I say, marketers and adjacent creatives who are gonna be BIG someday.
They’ve made Miu Miu not just a luxury fashion brand, but a cultural tastemaker.
Since 2011, Miu Miu Women’s Tales has commissioned female directors, like Academy Award nominee Ava DuVernay and the late Agnès Varda, to make short films about womanhood and identity. |
The only catch: On-screen talent has to wear Miu Miu. (Call my agent!)
In 2024, Miu Miu launched a global pop-up series that celebrates the work of women writers.
Summer Reads 2025 turned public green spaces in Beijing, Hong Kong, Osaka, Milan, and Paris into literary havens with free books (accessorized with Miu Miu-designed covers and bookmarks!) and coffee. |
Everything Miu Miu touches turns to cool. And, I think it’s because Miuccia Prada does things her own way. In March 2024, she told Vogue, “Every single morning, I decide if I’m going to be 15 years old or a lady near death.”
MIC DROP. |
Who could possibly take over when Miuccia leaves? (I nominate another woman in the Prada fam, no mime experience necessary.) How much longer can Miu Miu stay on top? Will it get big enough to have its own little, little sister brand someday?
That would make Miu Miu the middle sister. Like me! Maybe, just maybe, I could be a Miu Miu girl, after all. |
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Ratings. Reviews. Press mentions. Awards. Getting external validation can be a kickass growth lever. Orrrr it can be a waste of money.
Let’s dissect which is which, together.
TY to Product of the Year for giving me an excuse to dig into this.
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These would be nice. Members only! Yours, Ari |
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