What’s Miu Miu doing better than everyone else?

The numbers speak for themselves: Miu Miu’s revenues more than doubled in Q3, up a staggering 105 percent year-on-year and up 97 percent in the first nine months of 2024 (Vogue). As a result, Prada Group is one of very few luxury conglomerates to escape the icy grip of industry-wide decline, with retail sales up 18% in the first half of the year—mainly driven by Miu Miu’s outlandish success (L’Officiel). In the words of ELLE Magazine, ‘… it’s hard to recall another label that’s climbed its way to the top of today’s rapidly shifting fashion zeitgeist and stayed so steadily put.’

Founded in 1992 as a label secondary to Prada, Miu Miu was intended as a creative outlet that would give Miuccia Prada the freedom of expression restrained under the high-stakes success of its parent company. It’s this foundation of experimental whimsy that continues to transcend Miu Miu collections today—from the electric eccentricity of models sporting cow-licked hairstyles and colour-blocked bandages to the tongue-in-cheek triviality of its gem-studded underwear. Miuccia said it best in a 2004 interview with The New Yorker: ‘I make clothes. It’s silly. But it’s my job.’ 

It’s this fluidity that enables Miu Miu to create collections that can appeal to practically anyone. And they do this by drawing inspiration from diverse expressions of life, identity and experience. We saw this at Paris Fashion Week when Miu Miu showcased the same AW24 collection with a cast of models who reflected the diversity of the brand’s customers: from 70-year-old, Guangxi-born and retired doctor Qin Huilan to English-Nigerian rapper Little Simz and transgender singer-songwriter Ethel Cain. There’s a similar sentiment in campaign concepting too: this year’s Miu Miu Holiday Campaign, Irreverent Wonder, stars non-binary British actor Emma Corrin—evidently a Miu Miu favourite, having appeared in a number of campaigns, catwalk productions and shoots. In a character study written by Miu Miu for their FW22 Campaign, the label writes that, ‘Miu Miu can be seen as an attitude—eschewing gender binaries, it is a state of mind that connects the like-minded.’

There isn’t any singular aesthetic or style that we can tie Miu Miu down to indefinitely—and perhaps that’s part of its secret to success. Dubbed ‘the prickly little sister brand to Prada’ by The New York Times, Miu Miu has long held its title as an avant garde luxury label and ‘anti-fashion’ fashion line which, according to Vogue, ‘appeals to women who aren’t afraid to be a bit different.’ Miu Miu’s signature fluidity and a general aversion to style stagnation has served as a powerful selling tool. Its slightly askew styles are an invitation to dabble in the eccentric and, notably, to evade the mundane. While many praise Miu Miu for its chameleon-like ability to transcend definition, others view the label’s dubious fluidity as evidence of a trend-driven product strategy. But regardless of whether Miu Miu is following the trends or setting them, the house is clearly doing something better than the rest.

Miuccia Prada’s ability to conjure stellar lineups of ‘it girl’ celebs is undoubtedly another element of the label’s winning strategy. From Drew Barrymore modelling the brand’s spring collection back in ‘95 to Sydney Sweeney’s recent Met Gala look, the label has a history of collaborating with powerful ‘it girls’ at the height of their influence. In fact, Miu Miu has intertwined the ‘it girl’ with its own brand identity so compellingly that it’s given rise to a girl entirely of her own: the so-called ‘Miu Miu Girl’—and she’s never been more culturally relevant than she is right now.  

The Miu Miu Girl has evolved beyond the runway, influencing a brand strategy that prioritises community and offline initiatives like the recent Summer Reads pop-up. The event played on the Miu Miu Girl’s vaguely academic persona—handing out free copies of canonical texts from authors Alba de Céspedes, Sibilla Aleramo and Jane Austen. The move is arguably an attempt to resonate with emerging [A target='_blank' link='https://dd.agency/insights/keeping-up-with-gen-z']Gen Z consumers[/A] who value community-driven initiatives and connection, and who are more likely to view brands as an epxtension of their own identity. Whether or not the Miu Miu Girl will make any more appearances off the runway is yet to be seen, but the odds are high. Miu Miu described the pop-up event as a bid to, ‘further Miu Miu's commitment to contemporary thought and culture,’ and no doubt cast a spotlight on the Miu Miu Girl’s quiet intellectualism.  

We anticipate Miuccia will continue to dip into the archives for inspiration in the coming seasons. This comes amidst a resurgence in [A target='_blank' link='https://dd.agency/insights/how-neo-nostalgia-stole-our-hearts']neo nostalgia trends[/A] that have resulted in a thirst for any and all things Y2K. And as a brand dreamt up at the height of the ‘90s, Miu Miu has an archive ripe with inspiration for future collections. We’ve already witnessed Miuccia’s archive-inspired looks reimagined with a signature flair for the endearingly off-kilter: SS24 flaunted prep-inspired styles straight out of a Y2K fever dream, SS22 saw the birth of the cult-favourite micro-mini set and SS23 paired ‘90s neutrals with pops of Miu Miu flavour. This archive-inspired strategy appeals to both long-time customers and the trend-driven appetite of younger audiences alike—but exactly how Miuccia will shape the Y2K renaissance next is yet to be seen.