Miu Miu’s secret sauce

This article on Miu Miu is part of our Vogue Business Membership package. To enjoy unlimited access to Member-only reporting and insights, our NFT Tracker, Beauty Trend Tracker and TikTok Trend Tracker, weekly Technology, Beauty and Sustainability Edits and exclusive event invitations, sign up for Membership here. Miu Miu’s star continues to accelerate with H1 sales up 93 per cent year-on-year at a time when the luxury industry is going through a rough patch. It may not be a megabrand (although it’s on its way to reaching €1 billion in annual sales, reporting €530 million in the first half) but such robust growth is still a standout feat in the current environment. What’s its secret? In uncertain times, brands tend to play safe — not Miu Miu. Its recipe mixes together a quirky, edgy aesthetic, with playful styling, bold marketing and a shrewd celebrity strategy. “Today, the strength of Miu Miu is obviously the brand, the silhouette, the look,” Prada Group CEO Andrea Guerra said during the company’s first-half earnings call on 30 July. Lorenzo Bertelli, Prada Group chief marketing officer and head of corporate social responsibility called out the “highly successful fashion shows, impactful collaboration [notably on footwear with both New Balance and sister brand Church’s], and engaging worldwide events”. He also cited the positive reception of the 2024 leather goods campaign starring Gigi Hadid that supported the Acadie and Wander handbags, and the successful response to the Endless Summer and L’Été campaigns starring, notably, Cailee Spaeny with Emma Corrin and Amelia Gray with Emma Chamberlain respectively. He also called out the launch of Miu Miu’s first literary club ‘Writing Life’, a two-day event and the introduction of Miu Miu ‘Summer Reads’ pop-ups. Miu Miu’s campaigns are styled by Lotta Volkova, the star stylist who previously contributed to the rise of Vetements and Balenciaga. They feature prolific women including the aforementioned Hadid, Corrin, Gray, and Chamberlain, as well as Cara Delevingne and Sydney Sweeney. In Asia, the brand works with a number of influential celebrities, including Thai singer Nicha Yontararak known as Minnie, Japanese singer and rapper Momo Hirai of the K-pop group Twice and Wonyoung Jang of the K-pop band Ive. Richard Johnson, chief commercial officer at German luxury multi-brand retailer Mytheresa, says the brand stands out because there’s innovation in design and image. “In a market where many designers are playing it safe, leaning heavily into familiar tropes, well-worn commercial territory and while others opt to stay on trend, Miu Miu stands out due to a forward looking, innovative approach to setting trends rather than following them,” he says. Case in point: Miu Miu ignited the panties trend by pairing underwear with a cardigan and flat shoes on the runway. The same look, worn by Corrin at the Venice film festival last year, created a buzz. “It’s your late-teen’s dream wardrobe that you can finally afford, it doesn’t matter your age,” Dryce Lahssan, a Paris-based designer, says. Think of the micro mini skirts and crop tops with unfinished hems, 1950s dresses, ballerina flats and oval, 90s inspired, statement glasses (under license with Essilor Luxottica). And, when you go to the boutique, almost all pieces have the Miu Miu logo. “The logo is just a stamp, it’s about silhouette, ease, it’s beyond cool,” Lahssan says. Miu Miu was founded in 1993, the name being Miuccia Prada’s nickname. “It was intended to be a younger, less serious brand than Prada. At that time, Prada was growing fast and considered very sophisticated and Miu Miu felt like it was a ‘fun’ side project of Miuccia,” says fashion consultant Julie Gilhart. “It still feels like Miuccia’s place where she can let go, play and inject her version of humor. The energy this creates is enticing to many different types of customers.” But, over the years, it has been progressively repositioned as a standalone brand and is no longer Prada’s little sister. “More and more the two brands are acting independently and this is the way forward,” Prada Group’s Guerra said. After Covid-19 restrictions eased, Miu Miu started turning red hot. Volkova has been styling the Miu Miu shows since Autumn/Winter 2021, further fuelling the heat. Miu Miu is among the most desirable brands quarter after quarter, topping fashion search engine Lyst’s ranking of hottest brands in Q3 2023 and Q1 2024. The collaboration sneaker with New Balance was Lyst’s hottest product in the first quarter of 2024. In March, Vogue Runway’s Sarah Mower wrote: “When Mrs Prada came out at the end of the [AW24] show, she had little to say, but it was to the point: ‘I think they are classics. Everyone can choose from them to be a child, or a lady. Every single morning, I decide if I’m going to be 15 years old, or a lady near death.’” That wide range is reflected in Miu Miu’s customer base. What the Miu Miu customer wants Isabel, a German client in her 50s, visited the Paris Faubourg Saint-Honoré Miu Miu boutique to buy boat shoes. “Miu Miu is really connecting the dots. It’s cool, easy to wear while at the same time chic. It’s youthful, which I think makes it highly desirable for a lot of people because it’s a mindset and not about age,” she says. (She’ll buy the boat shoes online as they didn’t have her size.) Meanwhile, at Selfridges’s Miu Miu counter, a senior sales associate says that recently clients have been either on the younger end or much more mature — though not so much in-between. The new seasons seem to appeal to both longtime customers and newer ones. “I’m just going with the trend,” says one shopper in her 20s from Dubai who was visiting the brand’s counter at Selfridges in London. The last time she bought from Miu Miu was years ago, but says that the collections from last year onwards have been drawing her back in. “Right now, usually my friends are wearing Miu Miu,” she says. She noted that the logo tops caught her eye (the senior sales associate also said that Miu Miu’s poplin shirts with unfinished hems are bestsellers). The brand has built a strong pipeline of next-generation customers. According to the Selfridges senior sales associate, teenagers flock to the Miu Miu counter to try on clothes. Most of the time they don’t buy anything, they’re just there for inspiration and to soak up the brand. They see Miu Miu as the “ideal brand”, she said. If they do buy something, it’s a small trinket, charm or underwear — almost always with logos front and centre — which give the Miu Miu “look” for less. Back in Paris, Sofia Achaval, who co-founded Argentinian fashion label Àcheval with Lucila Sperber, is a big Miu Miu customer. “It is one of the few brands I don't mind showing the logo. I believe it’s a ‘free spirited’ brand, timeless, sophisticated. I own the mini skirt in many colours and shapes, also the ballerina flats, the underwear with logo and the vintage-inspired dresses, shorts, tops and the crop top T-shirts. Those are pieces I can wear every season, collect them, they are seasonless and always in trend. You feel ‘cool’ without trying too hard.” More steam ahead Inevitably, the question is: can the momentum last? “It’s not easy for a brand to reach a significant size with only one gender offer and Miu Miu has definitely succeeded in it. Of course, these kinds of growth rates cannot be projected forever, but I see more of a soft landing than a hard landing for Miu Miu,” says Mario Ortelli, managing director of consultancy Ortelli & Co. How can it keep its cool factor while growing? “That’s the magic of the creative and marketing departments,” he says. The brand has more gas left in the tank. Asked if Miu Miu has the potential to become a €2 billion brand, during the earnings call, Prada Group’s Guerra said: “The ambition is there. I think there's an opportunity. Miu Miu’s initial roots were mostly Asian. Today, Europe is competing with Asia in terms of the number one region. We began to focus on North America as well where we are relatively small. There is a long journey in front of us.” Bertelli added: “The US is a great opportunity in terms of growth for Miu Miu. We have [a lot of consumers] complaining about us not having enough stores and products in the US.” In 2025, Miu Miu plans to increase floor space by around 10 per cent globally. With so many viral products, an analyst asked how they plan to control it. Guerra replied: “We are putting the maximum effort to define, to put quotas, to analyse the consumer base. I would say that in this period, maybe we could have sold the double. So, for sure, the brand is very hot. We need to manage things properly and plan the future properly.” With additional reporting by Maliha Shoaib Comments, questions or feedback? Email us at feedback@voguebusiness.com. More on this topic: Prada Group clocks 17% growth in H1 as Miu Miu soars Lessons from Miu Miu’s hot streak Explained: The Miu Miu frenzy and the business of viral

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