Miuccia Prada

Born in Milan in 1949 to the family behind a century-old leather goods house, Miuccia Prada earned a PhD in political science and trained as a mime before taking over Prada in 1978. Her 1985 black nylon Pocone backpack rewrote luxury's relationship with industrial materials, and her cerebral, deliberately 'ugly chic' womenswear of the 1990s redefined what intellectual fashion could look like. She founded Miu Miu in 1993 as a more impulsive, youthful counterpoint, and established the Fondazione Prada as a contemporary art platform with husband Patrizio Bertelli. Since 2020 she has shared Prada's creative direction with Raf Simons in a dialogue-driven partnership, while Miu Miu under her sole authorship has become the most discussed house of the decade.