“What is feminine beauty today?” Miuccia Prada asked backstage at Prada, reflecting on a collection that exposed the clichés of femininity and then confidently exploded them. Doubling down on the subject at Miu Miu, she wondered, “do we need femininity in this difficult moment to lift us up?” As a designer, Prada has always taken an accurate temperature of the times, but her idea—that femininity is a sort of accessory that one can put on, take off, and reconfigure, be it with bullet bras, one-size-too-big slip dresses, or retro brooches—was particularly resonant this fall 2025 season.
Femininity was the common denominator in this season’s jewelry, whether it was wholly embraced or tinged with irony. Take the oversized brooches we saw everywhere from Miu Miu to Tom Ford and Tory Burch. Unlike the jewelry of the past few seasons, which exuded a more bohemian spirit, the finishing touches this time around signaled a dressy put-togetherness. Ladylike details in the form of pavé pendants at Luar and teardrop crystals and pears at Givenchy and Erdem continued to consider the classically feminine by both depicting it as is or reimagining it with a sense of play. See also the supersized pearl necklaces at both Vaquera and Chanel, which bookended the Paris collections. Gold got its moment in the sun this season, too, with designers moving away from the silver tones that have dominated the runways since the minimalism of the Phoebe Philo era found new momentum with the arrival of “quiet luxury.”
The season’s curveball came by way of satiric Duchampian Readymade jewelry fashioned with screwdrivers (Coach), lightbulbs (Moschino), and even shoelaces (Dries Van Noten).
Would You Like to Super Size Your Meal Today?
Extra-large staples with a sense of play.
