Mel Ottenberg Gathers the Girls to Talk Prada FW24

All photos courtesy of Mel Ottenberg and Dara Allen.

THURSDAY FEB. 22, 2024 1:17 PM MILAN.

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MEL OTTENBERG: I’m here with Gwendoline Christie and Jerry Stafford. Like Jerry just said, that’s the best Prada show in a long time. 

GWENDOLINE CHRISTIE: It was so extraordinary, so refined, so detailed. It was infinitely Prada. It was so modern and so brutal. There’s incredible vintage aspects to it. The show had an absence about it, and that takes real dedication and sophistication, to be able to deliver something that refined and emotional, but stripped back. I feel moved by it, actually. 

OTTENBERG: I do, too. I always love Prada beyond, but this is really taking the cake. It’s for so many different women, so many different bodies, so many different moods. Well, maybe she’s all one woman, but there’s a different mood. 

CHRISTIE: Women do have different moods. 

OTTENBERG: Yes they do. 

CHRISTIE: They’re wildly fluctuating, and I’m proud of it!

OTTENBERG: Jerry, any favorite looks? 

JERRY STAFFORD: I like the turbans casquettes. C’est magnifique. 

CHRISTIE: Were those French policeman’s hats covered in feathers? Is that what that was? And there were motorcycle gloves as well.

STAFFORD: There’s that Americana aspect to it at the beginning of the show. It was extraordinary. 

CHRISTIE: Shall we talk about the music as well? 

OTTENBERG: The “Nights In White Satin” blew my mind. And was that Nico singing? 

CHRISTIE: Yes, it was “My Funny Valentine”! It was profane and sublime.

STAFFORD: It went from that very twisted, subversive take on Americana into a Zone Of Interest-like darkness, with a kind of Mica Levi score. 

OTTENBERG: Tracee, any thoughts on this fucking amazing show?

TRACEE ELLIS ROSS: I will shop, is all I will say. I’m gonna shop til’ I drop. 

OTTENBERG: Are you getting those big black coats? What are you getting? 

ELLIS ROSS: I won’t do the coats. I love the pieces that look like a skirt, where it’s the front and not the back, with the mix of color. And that industrial boot with that heel. 

OTTENBERG: Oh yeah, that boot! 

ELLIS ROSS: The modesty combined with the elegance makes my little heart flutter. If I was a hat girl I’d be in those hats in a second. I’ve got a lot of hair. And I love the use of flats. 

OTTENBERG: Yeah, the shoes look really comfortable. There’s a cranberry shoe that’s so sensible and so cool. 

ELLIS ROSS: Did you see the ballet flat with a point, but with a thick heel? It’s very exciting. 

OTTENBERG: I just ran down Amandla [Stenberg] backstage. What’s you favorite look?

AMANDLA STENBERG: Oh my goodness.

OTTENBERG: Would you wear the super skin-tight leather jacket?

STENBERG: Absolutely, those were so sexy. 

OTTENBERG: They were so fucking sexy

STENBERG: Those took my breath away. I love the two fabric skirts 

OTTENBERG: Yeah, like the slip. 

STENBERG: And the ones that had more of a peplum shape,  I love those so much. It was like a mullet skirt.

MEL OTTENBERG: I’m with my friend Clara 3000, who did the music for the show, which was so phenomenal. Everyone’s talking about The Zone of Interest. And Nico’s “My Funny Valentine,” is that on an album?

CLARA DESHAYES: Yes, it’s on Camera Obscura. It’s an 80s album. 

OTTENBERG: And what was your vibe? Evil empire, America, or none of those things?

DESHAYES: It’s a little bit like being haunted, but also being in love.