Prada's Eras Tour explores the past to offer infinite options during Milan Fashion Week

MILAN (AP) — Milan designers on Thursday challenged the notion that a collection should dictate how one dresses, offering instead individual looks that can elevate, transform or simply complement a wardrobe.

Prada led the charge with a collection that served as a review of its past, offering updated elements for the Prada woman to create her own power. A much newer Milan player, Maccapani, is making the mixing of the old and new the hallmark of the brand, now in its third season.

Some highlights from the third day of Milan Fashion Week of mostly womenswear previews for Spring-Summer 2025.

Call it the Prada Eras Tour. The Spring-Summer 2025 womenswear collection featured a review of Prada eras past, reinterpreted with a surreal, sometimes sci-fi eye.

“It was finding ways of being Prada today,” Miuccia Prada said backstage.

Prada, with her co-creative director Raf Simons, said the collection aims at finding humanity in an era when information overload is driven by algorithms. Instead of exploring themes on the runway, the designers created individual looks, playing up to the strengths of each character they created.

“We thought of each individual as a superhero, with their own power, their own story,’’ Simons said. In this scenario, clothes “can transform your own perception of yourself.’’

Prada’s human proposition becomes one of “infinite options,” unaided by Artificial Intelligence, to create your own power.

Skirts were suspended with rings from belts that fastened around the waist, giving 1990s Prada vibes. A-line treated leather skirts had a post-modern futuristic turn with circle cutouts. A leather sheath clanked with hardware. High-waist trousers featured a trompe-l’oeil belt, knitwear had two-dimensional collars. Ribbed leggings substituted trousers, belted or layered, under a transparent tulle skirt.

The designers’ superhero element was most literal in bug-eyed sunglasses and topless hats with tinted viewing panels.

Emporio Armani played with masculine codes for its new womenswear collection, revamping the necktie along the way.

A photograph projected behind the runway from a 2000 Guggenheim retrospective of designer Giorgio Armani's first 25 years featured a woman dressed in a men's suit and tie — underlining the tie's enduring symbolism. Once a sign of gender equality, it "becomes a playful trend,” according to show notes.

A sequined tie was worn playfully as a bandeau top under a jacket for evening. Ties elegantly anchored daytime business suits, a belted tunic, or a dark evening suit jacket with sheer trousers.

Masculinity and femininity were balanced in soft jackets and flowing trousers, blousons and loose outerwear. A woven bootie was the footwear of choice. The color palette evolved from muted neutrals into bright hues, along with beads and sequins.

Titled Future Perfect, the collection was both a look back and a projection forward.

As he has recently, the 90-year-old Armani took his final bow with Leo Dell’Orco, head of design for menswear, and Silvana Armani, head of design for womenswear. He was also joined by two other long-time collaborators, Nicola Lamorgese, the head of design for Emporio Armani menswear, and Marco Brunello, head of design for womenswear.

The new Max Mara collection takes shape through origami folds, which creative director Ian Griffiths made into a leitmotif.

The "humble dart," as he called it, became a design feature, creating asymmetrical, draping dresses, or volumes on skirts, or a revival of a 1980s jacket tied at the side. The result was a clean wardrobe that belies the intricacy of the hand craftsmanship.

The Max Mara woman "likes to shock with the degree of precision in her look, how thought-through she is," Griffiths said. "It is our job at Max Mara to make that easy to achieve."

The collection in the brand’s trademark monochromes had an underlying sensuality, with bra tops, slits and cutouts offering a chance to reveal, while long jackets and hemlines afforded ample cover as desired. A crisp white shirt with folded cuffs was as integral to the looks as permanently crinkled fabrics, a leg-baring jacket-body suit combination as key as the trademark outerwear.

Joey King, whose latest film “Uglies” is streaming on Netflix, took front row wearing a gray cotton dress with a side cut-out.

Moschino creative director Adrian Appiolaza opened his latest collection with a blank canvas — a series of white gowns, twisted, tied and draped from crisp cotton, elaborated with ruffles, stitching and cutouts for folkloric flair.

The series was inspired by an image Appiolaza found in the archives of the late Franco Moschino draping a white sheet.

“It gave me this idea of freshness,” the designer said backstage. “Franco Moschino is always inspiring to me.”

In his third collection for the brand known for its irony, Appiolaza continued his exploration of trompe l’oeil, graphic prints and exaggerated proportions. The closing looks seemed to be caught between a little black dress, known in Italian as a tubino, and floral numbers, one worn on front, the other on back, posing the eternal dilemma: “Tubino or not to Tubino,” as written on the closing look.

Margherita Maccapani Missoni gave her new fashion baby her own, less-famous birth name, Maccapani, applying her fashion philosophy of mixing the old and new.

The Maccapani brand creates about 45 pieces a season, mostly out of versatile jersey — not just the familiar cotton version, but also jacquard and lurex. The brand aims to respond to the “needs of functionality and versatility that streetwear or athleisure respond to, but always feminine and elegant and put together,'' Maccapani Missoni said.

Her latest collection was shown in a Milan villa, with models engaged in leisure activities, putting together a puzzle, listening to music or drawing. One sang from the balcony. Missoni's mother Angela, former creative director of the Missoni fashion house, wandered through.

Maccapni is launching a storefront on E-bay with curated vintage items alongside her own collection, part of her brand concept to offer pieces — old and new — that can be integrated into a wardrobe, without dictating a style. The first drop will be on Sept. 27.

A model wears a creation as part of the Moschino Spring Summer 2025 collection that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

A model wears a creation as part of the Moschino Spring Summer 2025 collection that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Models wear creations as part of the Moschino Spring Summer 2025 collection that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Fashion designer Adrian Appiolaza acknowledges the applause at the end of the Moschino Spring Summer 2025 collection that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Models wear creations as part of the Moschino Spring Summer 2025 collection that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

A model wears a creation as part of the Moschino Spring Summer 2025 collection that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

A model wears a creation as part of the Moschino Spring Summer 2025 collection that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Models wear creations as part of the Moschino Spring Summer 2025 collection that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

A model wears a creation as part of the Moschino Spring Summer 2025 collection that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Models wear creations as part of the Moschino Spring Summer 2025 collection that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani, center, acknowledges the applause at the end of the Emporio Armani Spring Summer 2025 collection that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

A model wears a creation as part of the Emporio Armani Spring Summer 2025 collection that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

A model wears a creation as part of the Emporio Armani Spring Summer 2025 collection that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

A model wears a creation as part of the Emporio Armani Spring Summer 2025 collection that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

A model wears a creation as part of the Emporio Armani Spring Summer 2025 collection that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

A model wears a creation as part of the Emporio Armani Spring Summer 2025 collection that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

A model wears a creation as part of the Emporio Armani Spring Summer 2025 collection that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani, center, acknowledges the applause at the end of the Emporio Armani Spring Summer 2025 collection that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

A model wears a creation as part of the Max Mara Spring Summer 2025 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno).

Models wear creations as part of the Max Mara Spring Summer 2025 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno).

Actress Joey King attends the Max Mara Spring Summer 2025 fashion show, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno).

A model wears a creation as part of the Max Mara Spring Summer 2025 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni).

A model wears a creation as part of the Max Mara Spring Summer 2025 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni).

Model Vittoria Ceretti wears a creation as part of the Max Mara Spring Summer 2025 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni).

Model Vittoria Ceretti wears a creation as part of the Max Mara Spring Summer 2025 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni).

Model Irina Shayk wears a creation as part of the Max Mara Spring Summer 2025 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni).

Karina arrives for the Prada Spring Summer 2025 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno).

Members of the group ENHYPEN arrive for the Prada Spring Summer 2025 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno).

A model wears a creation as part of the Prada Spring Summer 2025 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno).

A model wears a creation as part of the Prada Spring Summer 2025 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno).

A model wears a creation as part of the Prada Spring Summer 2025 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno).

A model wears a creation as part of the Prada Spring Summer 2025 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno).

A model wears a creation as part of the Prada Spring Summer 2025 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno).

A model wears a creation as part of the Prada Spring Summer 2025 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno).

Tina Kunakey, centre, attends the Prada Spring Summer 2025 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno).

A model wears a creation as part of the Prada Spring Summer 2025 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno).

A model wears a creation as part of the Prada Spring Summer 2025 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno).

A model wears a creation as part of the Prada Spring Summer 2025 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno).

Models wear creations as part of the Prada Spring Summer 2025 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

A model wears a creation as part of the Prada Spring Summer 2025 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris rallies in Michigan’s union halls, standing alongside the state’s most powerful labor leader, while former President Donald Trump fires back from rural steel factories, urging middle-class workers to trust him as the true champion of their interests.

As they compete for blue wall states with deep union roots, the presidential candidates are making their case to workers in starkly different terms. And nowhere is that contrast more significant than in Michigan, where both candidates are vying for workers’ support in a race that could mark a pivotal moment for organized labor.

“The American dream was really born here in Michigan,” United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain told a crowd of several hundred while campaigning for Harris in Grand Rapids. Fain, who described Michigan as “sacred ground” for his union at the early October rally, warned that the dream was on “life support" and that unions like his were key to protecting it for American workers.

Harris, who is planning to meet with union workers again in Michigan on Friday, hopes her message — amplified by supporters such as Fain — will resonate beyond the union families that once formed a rock-solid base for the Democratic Party. Her campaign has grown increasingly concerned about her standing with men in the blue wall states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, where they are looking to union leaders to help mobilize voters in a political landscape that has shifted in the winds of a rapidly changing economy.

These concerns intensified recently when Harris failed to secure two key union endorsements that in 2020 went to President Joe Biden, who has touted himself as the most labor-friendly president in U.S. history. The International Association of Firefighters and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters both declined to endorse anyone, with the Teamsters citing a lack of majority support for Harris among their million-plus members.

The Teamsters have traditionally been less reliably Democratic than other unions, having endorsed Republican Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan in the past. Some state-level unions have also diverged from their national leadership, with Michigan’s Teamsters and California’s main firefighters’ union backing Harris.

Still, any break in unity within the labor movement could strike a blow against a party that has worked hard to restore unions as a central source of its power at the ballot box.

“When you talk about unions, you’re addressing more than just unionized workers. Most people in states like Michigan have a family member or close friend in a union,” said Adrian Hemond, a longtime political strategist in Michigan. “Unions are just a vessel to get that messaging out to workers.”

Trump has seized on the union non-endorsements, claiming they prove rank-and-file workers support his vision for the country.

Many Midwestern communities once core to the labor movement have shifted to the right in recent decades, often in response to economic concerns such as deindustrialization and the removal of trade barriers. In that same span, non-college-educated white voters across the country began voting more conservatively for a number of reasons, including concern about cultural issues involving race and gender.

In Michigan, home to the Big Three automakers and the largest concentration of UAW workers, Trump seeks to capture an even larger share of these votes by framing Harris as a supporter of electric vehicle mandates and trade policies that he says send jobs overseas.

Attempting to separate union workers from their leaders, he labeled Fain a “stupid idiot" and praised Tesla CEO Elon Musk for firing workers who went on strike. The UAW says that could intimidate people who work for the Trump campaign or at Tesla who might want to join a union.

In 2020, Biden narrowly carried the blue wall states that had broken with Democrats in 2016 for the first time in decades on his way to winning the White House. That election win was built on a foundation of strong support from unionized voters, who have traditionally formed a turnout machine for Democrats in the Midwest. But it stood apart from past Democratic victories in a number of significant ways.

While Trump narrowly won white voters in Michigan in 2020, the former president’s vote margin was highly polarized along educational, professional and income lines; Trump won nearly two-thirds of non-college-educated white voters in the state, while Biden and Trump were drawn to a near tie among college-educated white voters, according to AP VoteCast, a comprehensive survey of the electorate.

Among Michigan’s nonwhite voters, who make up 16% of the state’s electorate, Biden won a resounding 80% of the vote. But signs of that coalition fracturing have emerged more recently, particularly among Arab Americans in metro Detroit, many of whom are expected to turn away from Democrats due to the Biden administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas conflict.

As Trump again seeks the presidency, his campaign hopes to boost GOP support among the state’s non-college-educated white and nonwhite workers to unprecedented levels, partly to offset expected losses Trump will face with white college-educated voters, where he has hemorrhaged support since his 2020 loss and subsequent efforts to overturn the results in Michigan, Pennsylvania and other swing states.

“I think that part of the problem that Democrats are having with some of the white male, blue collar voters is not within the union itself,” said Brian Rothenberg, a former UAW spokesman. “It’s those folks that are children or relatives of union members that just aren’t doing as well."

Harris has aimed to win over these voters by emphasizing how unions benefit all workers. At a Labor Day rally in Detroit, she said “you better thank a union member” for the five-day work week, for sick and paid leave and for vacation time.

“When union wages go up, everybody’s wages go up,” said Harris.

Just over a year after securing new contracts for UAW workers at Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, Fain has staked much of his political capital — and potentially his future — on supporting Harris. He argues that UAW backing for Democrats has remained steady over recent elections, with approximately 60% of members voting for the Democratic presidential nominee.

Biden became the first president to walk the picket line when he visited Michigan in late 2023 amidst the autoworker strike. A day later, Trump traveled to Michigan and appeared at a non-union plant, where he railed against Biden's electric vehicle push and told workers to “get your union leaders to endorse me, and I’ll take care of the rest.”

Union leaders have said his first term was far from worker-friendly, citing unfavorable rulings from the nation’s top labor board and the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as unfulfilled promises of automotive jobs. They emphasize Democratic achievements in states like Michigan, including the recent repeal of a union-restricting right-to-work law enacted over a decade ago by a Republican-controlled legislature.

With membership dwindling in states like Michigan, Fain will need to attract more than just union workers to secure a victory for Harris, who has campaigned in the state alongside him. If the union president cannot deliver Michigan after all these efforts, it could raise questions about his union's political influence in future elections.

“This is a generation-defining moment, where we are right now,” Fain told Michigan voters. “This election is going to determine where we go.”

Cappelletti reported from Lansing, Michigan. Associated Press writer Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to this report.

FILE - Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump attends a campaign event, Sept. 27, 2024 in Walker, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)

FILE - People arrive before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event, Sept. 27, 2024 in Walker, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)

FILE - United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain speaks at a campaign rally for Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris at the Dort Financial Center in Flint, Mich., Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

FILE - Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives at a town hall campaign event at Macomb Community College, Sept. 27, 2024, in Warren, Mich. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

FILE - Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, with Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, left, and UAW President Shawn Fain, speaks at a campaign rally at UAW Local 900, Aug. 8, 2024, in Wayne, Mich. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson, File)