Page 3 of History of Prada
Miuccia Prada was honoured with a Council of Fashion Designers of America International Award for accessories in 1993, and two years later she received the "Designer of the Year" award. Prada's first menswear shop was opened in Los Angeles in 1998, and the city of Los Angeles also became home for the first North American Miu Miu boutique. The Prada Company continued by opening up new Prada stores in Las Vegas and Manhattan during the late 90’s.
Many analysts have pointed out how the Prada Company seem to have assumed an intellectual approach to fashion. As the new millennium commenced, Prada launched a style described by New York Times as "chic neo-fascist army". Prada's strict look has always been associated with intellectualism and business women. One fashion critic described the fantasy Prada girl as a young woman reading Proust in a café, while her Gucci sister was swigging shots of Tequila in a fancy nightclub dressed in a halter top and miniskirt.
The entire 90s can be marked as an era of expansion in the history of Prada following up on the reputation that Prada created during the 80s and culminating during the late 1990’s when Miuccia Prada's husband Patrizio Bertelli began a series of acquisitions where the Prada company, as a part of a consortium, took over fashion establishments such as Fendi, Helmut Lang, Church Shoes and Jil Sander. When the consortium took over the House of Jil Sander in 2000, a conflict broke out between Patrizio Bertelli and designer and founder Jil Sander over the right to her name. As a consequence of this disagreement, she left the company. As a part of her leaving agreement she agreed to stay out of the fashion business until 2003.
At the end of 2001, Prada was already $ 1 billion in debt and was more or less forced to sell Fendi to LVMH to sort out their finances. Unfortunately, the $ 250 million that Prada received from LVMH seem to be insufficient to put the company back on its feet. In April 2002, just a few months after agreeing to sell Fendi, Prada put the House of Byblos up for sale – a fashion house that had been acquired by Prada in June 2001. Prada is still recovering from its financial problems, but continues to be a true fashion empire. Prada products are today sold to fashionistas and celebrities in practically all of the western world countries.
