Getting ready to show off your legs next summer. The new fashion, according to Prada, is all about skinny shorts, and jewel tones on top. Tiny shorts, and in some cases even tiny knickers, wove their way down the catwalk, in jewel colours of purple, emerald green and red. The bottom half was scant because the top half was supposed to be the focus.

So beautiful Forties-inspired blouses, boxy shirts and foxy jackets were key, in romantic satin with a glorious lustre. With their satin turbans, structured blouses, leather-belted waists and meagre shorts, the models looked half girl scout, half Gloria Swanson - an intriguing mix, to be sure, but one that looked totally new. With many designers this season proving a little directionless, it is to Prada once more that women will turn for that all-important fresh look that keeps the industry ticking over.

"Anything that makes women strong and powerful," is what Prada cited as her inspiration backstage after the show, adding that her travels in India and China had also played a hand. Colours - deep claret, purple, forest green and ruby - were rich and dramatic, all the more so for coming in satin. Textures were complex: a shift dress made of iridescent mother of pearl discs was a highlight, as was a fringed leather mini dress accompanied by a fringed leather bag.

A camouflage print was given a deluxe make-over, reworked in patches of orange and red satin. But it is the shoes and bags which will be coveted most by Prada's army of fans, for these can be enjoyed by everyone, whatever their size of thigh. The biggest news for spring? The utilitarian rucksack is back, in lustrous satin - with oversized pockets that will ensure no woman ever has to travel light again.