Seduction explored — and questioned — at Prada: Miuccia Prada officially disavows connecting fashion with politics. So let’s let the clothes speak for her.

Her latest collection has clear echoes of the protest movement of the 1970s, interwoven with references to today’s protests asserting the rights of women and native peoples.

Of course, if you ask Prada, she will deny it all.

And yet: Crocheted bras spoke to a woman’s handiwork and suggested a bygone protest era when women shed theirs, even burned them. Furry parkas with full hoods and Eskimo boots, beaded accents and trailing feathers referenced Native American cultures still fighting for control over their resources.

Prada said the collection took off from her menswear looks shown in January, just days before the U.S. presidential inauguration.

The male figure was her starting point, “with the idea … to get back to reality, to people, to a more sensitive atmosphere.”

And she did that with decidedly feminine forms and materials. There were mohair dresses with a mermaid ruffle below the knees, crepe dresses with beading and feather accents, and satiny gowns with knee-high red boots, clearly made for walking. But there were also marabou feathered slippers.

“Me, personally, my point was seduction. How necessary is seduction? Do we use the same instruments as 50 years ago? Women want to appeal and be beautiful, but how, if you are intelligent?” Prada asked.

Power through positivity at Versace:

Donatella Versace has long promoted the power women through her uncompromising fashion.

Emblazoned on her creations for next fall were key words: Solidarity, Equality, Courage, Unity. The words were embroidered on sheer layers peeking out from under black wool skirts, on the sleeves of blouses. And most symbolically, on patches placed on knit hats that recall the caps worn at recent demonstrations by women across the United States. Versace’s hats weren’t pink and didn’t have cat ears, but the sentiment was unmistakable.

The Versace woman for next season is unapologetically streetwise. She wears a hoodie under her down-to-business suit, refusing to compromise her knowledge, the very definition of equality.

“This is a collection about the power of women, and women who know how to use their power,” Versace said in her notes.

Being Marni: Marni’s new creative director, Francesco Risso, is keeping the kooky in the brand with bubble-wrap effects and balloon volumes in the richly textured collection.

Risso said backstage that his aim is to infuse the brand with “fun and love, and allowing people to really enjoy themselves when they wear these clothes.”

Risso varied the silhouettes, from straight lines to balloon shapes, from simple sheaths to fluffy furs, with less of the architectural construction that has defined the brand. .

Risso titled the collection “Being,” short for “the infinite ways of being,” and said his work is about freeing women from stereotypes.