Whenever I need to feel something, I decide to look up '90s Miu Miu runway images. To me, they represent everything I love about fashion. The looks are often so simple but absolutely perfect, with small quirky styling details that still feel relevant and fabulous.
Some older collections that I also look back at when I need inspiration feel so over-the-top and editorial that the models represent someone I could never be, even if I had the gowns and feathered coats. They're characters I love and admire, but they're living in a fantasy. The '90s Miu Miu girl, though, feels like someone I could theoretically become. There's a reality that Mrs. Prada infuses into her close with this sense of nostalgia and childlike glee.
Taking notes from these runway images feels like studying small ways I can insert some fashion magic into my daily life. Recently, while looking through archival Miu Miu photos, I stumbled across a photo from a vintage reseller of a pair of sequin Miu Miu Mary Janes from the 1997 fall/winter collection. I was enamored and truly crushed to see they were in my size, but they allegedly ran quite small.
The Miu Miu sequin Mary Janes as seen on the fall/winter 1997 runway.
Whenever I stumble across a vintage item I deem a grail, I also need to go to the source to try to see how it was originally styled. And when I went to look at the fall/winter 1997 Miu Miu show the sequin Mary Janes were from, I was, as always, inspired and awestruck by Mrs. Prada's brain. The glitzy shoes were worn with warm layers such as turtleneck sweaters, wool skirts, long scarves, and trench coats.
Miu Miu fall/winter 1997.
Miu Miu fall/winter 1997.
What I loved about the look was that it was something I would never think to do. When I see sequin Mary Janes, I relegate them to a party look. That said, Mrs. Prada made me realize cozy fall and winter looks could always use a bit of childlike whimsy.
Miu Miu fall/winter 1997.
Miu Miu fall/winter 1997.
I've been seeing a lot more glitter recently as the trends have moved away from quiet luxury and into more fun territory. While I'm still planning on trying to score these vintage Miu Miu Mary Janes somewhere, I'll opt for any pair below as well. And I will be wearing them with my coziest layers all fall.
Shop the glitter shoe trend:
