The Money's in the Prada Handbag!

Well did you manage to purchase any of the unique Prada prototypes at the Prada Spring/Summer Women's 2008 Fashion Auction which ended on Tuesday? The Prada handbags, skirts, pants and boots were certainly one-of-a-kinds in terms of design, style and colors. Here's a brief roundup on this auction.

Prada Designer Pants

The first items on the bidding block were three pairs of couture pants. The low-rise bell-bottom Cyclamen Pants, as shown in the pictures directly below, are made off silk fabric as used extensively in haute couture collections of the fifties. These very unique pants, in cyclamen

color and shell print are printed with a 20-color flat screen process and appeared with different print in the last Prada fashion show for the Spring/Summer 2008 women's collection. The one-of-a-kind Prada designer pants were purchased during the auction for 2000 Euros. There can be no doubt that these Prada pants in hot cyclamen color are super chic but I just can't get my head around the large bell-bottoms.

Next in the bidding we saw the low-rise bell-bottom Sunny Yellow Pants as shown in the picture on the left. These pants are made of silk gazar, generated by a 20-color flat screen printing process which ensures a richer, more accurate result compared to the normal 10-color printing technique. Screens with the designs are used to apply the inks on the cloth. A specific screen is used to print each separate portion of color and given that this involved a 20-color flat screen printing process, you can easily see that the end result is spectacular.

Although very similar in style to the Prada Cyclamen Couture Pants, due to the motif print and its sunny yellow color, the Sunny Yellow Pants are certainly unique and given that it attracted a highest bid of 2100 Euros, one can imagine that they will be worn proudly. Once again however, because of the large bell-bottom they are not my style and I'm not so hot on the yellow color, well not in pants anyway!

The third item in the first group of prototypes auctioned was the Orange Pants shown in the picture here on the right. Once again, like the two prior items, this prototype is a unique low-rise bell-bottom pants created exclusively for this auction.

The silk gazar fabric is printed through the same 20-color process that guarantees a more accurate result compared to the normal 10-color printing technique. This fashion piece is absolutely unique due to its combination of color and print, as for the cyclamen and sunny yellow ones. The highest bid for these was 2000 Euros. Again because of the bell-bottom design, this one-of-a-kind fashion piece, is not my style.

Prada Handbag and Designer Boots

A Plum Buckskin Prada handbag and two pairs of Prada designer boots made up the second group of items which were auctioned off in the week ending April 29, 2008. Shown in the pictures below, I described each of these items in my Exclusive Prada Designer Auction post of Thursday April 24, 2008.

The Plum Buckskin Prada Handbag went for 4000 Euros, the Plum Buckskin Boot for 1450 Euros (pictured in the center directly above), and the Antique Rose Buckskin Boot (pictured above on the far right) went for 1300 Euros. I have to say that out of all items, the Plum Buckskin Prada Handbag was my favorite piece in the auction but more on this later.

Prada Designer Skirts

You've got the pants, the boots and the Prada handbag so now what about a unique Prada skirt or two to match? Well that's what the final part of the Prada Spring/Summer Women's 2008 Fashion Auction was all about, skirts!

The first of these is the Ankle-length, Sunny Yellow Skirt shown here on the left. This skirt is made of silk gazar printed with a shell design as used in the last Prada Spring/Summer 2008 Women's Fashion Show. Gazar is a heavyweight organza that was used extensively in haute couture collections of the fifties. This skirt was purchased at auction for 1500 Euros. Now I didn't like the low-rise bell-bottom Sunny Yellow Pants described above but I do like this skirt, and even in yellow!

The second skirt is the shell design, Cyclamen Silk Gazar Skirt shown immediately below on the left. This skirt is also inspired to the 2008 Prada Spring/Summer Women's Collection. The luxurious print portrays a world full of carnivorous flowers, dragons, hybrid creatures, and mysterious fairies. As the previous, this prototype is absolutely unique as it is the only version in this color in existence. The Cyclamen Silk Gazar Skirt was purchased at auction for 1300 Euros.

 

The third skirt in the group is the Orange Silk Gazar Skirt shown in the picture directly above on the right. This gorgeous skirt is decorated with a shell print and carnivorous flowers, dragons, hybrid creatures, and mysterious fairies. A similar model was shown for the first time during the Spring/Summer 2008 fashion shown in Milan but this piece is unique thanks to its orange color. As in the case of the Cyclamen Silk Gazar Skirt, this unique, one-of-a-kind item was purchased for 1300 Euros.

The final piece in this group is the Orange Knee-Length Patchwork Skirt shown in the pictures directly above. This is another piece in the collection made of printed silk gazar, a heavy-weight organza used extensively in haute couture collections that was quite popular in the fifties. This prototype in orange is decorated with cut-out elements that are hand-sewn on the skirt. This unique, one-of-a-kind item was purchased for 1700 Euros.

Final Words - The Money's in the Prada Handbag

I would love to hear from you if you managed to snag one of these covetable pieces. What's your story? What motivated you to bid and finally purchase the piece(s) that you did? Will you wear the fashion and take the Prada Handbag with you or will simply keep these with your coveted private collection? Do you perhaps own a boutique and plan to display your newly acquired treasure in your store? What ever your story I would love to hear from you.

Amazingly one seriously keen Prada lover snatched eight out of the ten items auctioned. Someone who goes by the screen name of Transito paid 4000 Euros for the Plum Buckskin Prada Handbag, 1300 Euros for the Antique Rose Buckskin Boot and 1450 Euros for the Plum Buckskin Boot. Add to these Transito also purchased the Cyclamen Silk Gazar Skirt (Euros 1300), the Orange Silk Gazar Skirt (Euros 1300), the Orange Knee-Length Patchwork Skirt (1700 Euros), the Sunny Yellow Pants (2100 Euros) and the Orange Pants (2000 Euros). Now that's a total of 15,150 Euros or $23,380 USD so fashionista Transito is one hell of a Prada lover. Will these prototype Prada fashions end up as part of a rare collection or will we see them back on some other auction site at some later date? I'd love to know. Transito, you take care of that Prada Handbag. It's really chic!!!