Skirt Alert!

(NEW YORK) The power of Miuccia Prada's skirts continues to grow. Following successful debuts in Tokyo and Shanghai, the company is bringing "Waist Down-Skirts by Miuccia Prada," (an art installation of skirts) to New York next month. The exhibition, which will be open to the public from April 19-May 31 at Prada's Soho Epicenter store on Broadway, is a positive sign that the 30,000 square foot store will reopen soon-as early as next Tuesday, according to a company spokesperson.

The Soho store has remained shuttered since January 21, when a five-alarm fire caused extensive damage to its location at 575 Broadway, which, in addition to housing Prada, is also home to Interview magazine, American Eagle Outfitters, and Bobbi Brown cosmetics.

Prada, which has retained KCD to oversee the event and for press outreach efforts, will showcase approximately 100 skirts, ranging from the first women's collection in 1988 to the present. The pieces will be displayed in a manner that best utilizes the Soho location's unique architectural elements-such as the wave platform staircase, foldable stage, and hanging steel cages. The Office for Metropolitan Architecture, the creative arm of the architectural design firm AMO, will oversee the installation.

Prada is herself an adoring fan of skirts, noting the form-meets-function manner in which they translate the movement of the body. Following a recent runway show in Milan where she notably took her bow wearing a pair of pants, it remains to be seen whether the designer herself-who is expected to be in New York to herald the occasion-will don one of her much-treasured flirty numbers.
JIM SHI