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In the late 1970s, a small, once-prestigious leather goods company sat nearly forgotten in Milan’s luxury retail landscape. Fratelli Prada, founded in 1913 by Mario Prada, had once been the official supplier to the Italian Royal House, renowned for its fine leather luggage and travel accessories.
But by 1978, the company had dwindled to just a single store, a shadow of its former glory. At this critical juncture, an unlikely savior emerged – not a business magnate or experienced fashion executive, but a serious young woman with a Ph.D. in political science, communist sympathies, and training as a mime.
