Miu Miu Women’s Tales

Filmmaking, fashion, and femininity collide in Miu Miu Women’s Tales. The longest running commissioning platform of female-led short films, the project has led to the creation of 29 editions over 15 years and counting. 

Miu Miu Women’s Tales #29: Autobiografia Di Una Borsetta. Directed by Joanna Hogg. Photo available via Vogue. ©All rights belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.

Though on the fashion radar since its 1992 inception, and often referred to as Prada’s little sister, it’s been in the last couple of years that Miu Miu has become one of the most highly visible fashion houses, holding status as the world’s hottest brand in quarter 4 of ‘24, according to Lyst’s index, having won 3 of the prior 4 quarters. Their sales are explosive, consistently rising and going hand in hand with the brand’s social virality. Their campaigns are star-studded, and both their clothing and accessories have become recognizable in their own right. The brand continues to evolve, but unchanging throughout its time is its aim at capturing femininity with a modern vision. Combining minimalism with an avant-garde style and conveying rebellion and nonconformity: that’s the goal. 

One of the brand’s most earnest ventures at this comes not from their collections, but rather their ongoing film series. Miu Miu Women’s Tales, the short film anthology series starting in 2011, commissions two films a year for the series, one each for their summer and winter collections. All of the films are directed by women, and the only stipulation in the filmmaking process is that they use Miu Miu pieces. Since the debut, the films in the series have been screened at film festivals around the world and have involved industry renowned directors and actresses, like Zoe Cassavetes, Chloë Sevigny, Lucrecia Martel, to name only a few. 

The films vary in length and subject, anywhere from around 2 to 30 minutes. They are also beautifully diverse in location and sentiment. Throughout them all, however, is an invitation from Miu Miu to look both critically and lovingly at subjects of femininity, especially in the fashion milieu. This invitation is directed at exploring the ways in which clothes impact our lives and interactions with others. The resulting experiences are complex and often contradictory, showing the multitude of ways femininity and fashion collide.

Stills from Miu Miu Women’s Tales (left to right) #14, 19, 24. Photos available via Miu Miu. ©All rights belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.

In February, the brand hosted the premiere of their 29th edition: Autobiografia di una Borsetta, directed by British filmmaker Joanna Hogg. The London premiere, much like the preceding editions, brought the stars, like Alexa Chung, Little Simz, Emma Corrin, etc. The appearance of such stars and the attention paid to the films’ premieres around the world speaks to the success and allure of the project. Women’s Tales essentially creates a night centered around the artistic endeavours of the filmmakers and participants, with an added bonus of publicity for the brand.  

The protagonist of #29 is a white Miu Miu Wander bag and through the film we see the bag tell its story through where it’s been and who has owned it. Director Joanna Hogg was fascinated by the idea of centering an object as the main character, and she draws a parallel between the risk she often uses in her filmmaking approach to that of Miu Miu’s fashion. She was both intimidated and invigorated by the freedom allowed by the project, acknowledging how unique a project Women’s Tales is in its bestowing of creative freedom to women directors. 

Storytelling and interdisciplinary narratives are woven into fashion as an ideology. Clothes themselves speak, of course, but placing them in the context of a film reveals a story. The idea of the fashion short film has been tried on by many labels, but what makes Miu Miu’s series more compelling is the subversive nature of their pieces in the films. At the beginning of each film Miu Miu takes ownership with an iteration of its “Miu Miu Presents” screen, but beyond this there are few outright indicators of promotion/product placement.  The requisite of using Miu Miu in the films ensures the use of the branding, but the artistic freedom leads to a more sophisticated delivery than a traditional ad campaign. 

The films become a narrative device through which Miu Miu can promote its branding. From this branding perspective, a film series such as this distinguishes itself via dimension. In other words, it is as if brand campaigns in commercials or on social media are in an ingenuine 2D compared to the dynamic 3D of such cinematic films. Even better is that advertising acts not as the main goal of this series. Miuccia Prada herself says of the project, “Cinema has been a longtime passion and has also been an important backbone of my education. With the Tales we created a platform for talented directors: through their gaze we have opened a conversation on the world of femininity and vanity and what it means today. A conversation with women about women.” 

In efforts to further amplify the program, the Miu Miu Women’s Tales Committee project was introduced in 2023. With a group of leading figures in the film world, the project is allocated toward outreach to new fans, creators and viewers, and is intended to sustain the series’ legitimacy in the film industry as both brand and film evolve. The establishment of the committee is an excellent display of how Miu Miu works with female voices and believes in the power of their work together. For Miuccia Prada, her leadership in this project coincides with the principles she champions through her work, especially showcasing how fashion and narrative ought to intersect. 

Miu Miu Women’s Tales Committee. From left to right: Miuccia Prada, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Catherine Martin, Ava DuVernay, and Verde Visconti. Photo available via Miu Miu. ©All rights belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.

From the creative perspective of the series, the directors are entrusted with an opportunity to merge their own artistic methods with those of Miu Miu as a brand. There is a common thread among the directors interviewed about their contribution to the series, which is that they are inspired by the principles that fuel Miu Miu. As a woman charged with portraying feminine themes and vanity in their film, they see Miu Miu’s collections as an adequate channel to do so, which aligns with what the brand professes itself to be and hopes to represent for those who are drawn to it. 

Through Women’s Tales, Miuccia Prada and Miu Miu show a depth in branding and both a dedication to these stories and to the empowerment of women in both cinematic directing and fashion. Its maturation since 2011 shows commitment with its powerful list of contributors so far. If the project goes steady on in its efforts to highlight underrepresented voices, the impact can only grow.