The label's fun fruit print has proved a big hit with seriously stylish dressers ? Anna Wintour included
Bananas are by their nature a bit comical. They are the classic ignition for slapstick humour. They are "fun". So when they turn up on clothes you would imagine them to be part of a novelty trend. Something deliberately bad taste and worn by twentysomething hipsters young and thin enough to get away with a dash of vulgarity. Not so. This summer the banana has matured. It has become the ubiquitous, instantly recognisable emblem of the grown-up, fashion-centric woman, thanks to Prada.
That Muiccia Prada, queen of the deluxe quirk, has chosen this lurid print is not a surprise. When editors first saw the current collection on the catwalk in Milan last September, the talk was not about whether bananas were bad taste but about how much of a hit the range was going to be. Indeed the print has proved phenomenally successful. The bananas collection helped to boost the brand's coffers so much that the company is now estimated to be worth in excess of ?10bn (�8.7bn).
What is surprising about the banana trend is who has adopted this look. Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of US Vogue, was quick to swap her tasteful florals for bananas early on in the year and has been photographed in at least three versions of the skirt. Various fortysomething fashion editors quickly followed suit, and the print was a regular at industry parties. Stephanie Flanders, economics editor at the BBC, recently reported while wearing the fruity pencil skirt with an exaggerated Carmen Miranda frill ? which is a scenario as far from a Hoxton bar as you can imagine.
Bananas are not the only fruit enjoying their moment in the spotlight. Thanks to Stella McCartney, oranges and lemons are also popular. Printed jackets from her summer collection had a "man from Del Monte" appeal. It isn't the first time fruit has been in fashion. Back in 2004 bananas proved a hit after they turned up on the Chlo� catwalk, when the label was designed by Phoebe Philo. When McCartney designed for Chlo�, pineapples were briefly in vogue.
Part of the banana's appeal for grown-ups this time around lies not in the print itself ? an obvious statement of means at around �600 a time. The strict tailoring of the pencil skirts provides the real selling point for adults: for all their lurid novelty they are highly flattering on real body shapes. Naturally, the high street has gone all out for the fun and frivolity of the fruit trend, but without the expensive tailoring. The results are patchy. If you want a throwaway holiday top then any of the usual suspects will deliver brilliantly. But if you want to go bananas and enjoy the delicious strictness of Milanese tailoring, you may have to start saving for Prada.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/may/29/prada-banana-print-anna-wintour
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