Miuccia Prada is not one to be "pretty" or "glamorous" - she'd rather be bold and groundbreaking. While not all of her ideas are successes, there's something admirable in her sartorial fearlessness that ranks with the likes of Nicolas Ghesquière, John Galliano, and the late Alexander McQueen. While her penchant for the unprecedented has earned her a love/hate relationship on my part, Vogue, Bazaar, and the rest of the gala-going set worship at her feet (which, this season, sport platform loafers). Her latest epiphany involved a look she coined "minimal baroque." Exactly what that means remains unclear, but it translated into such discordant components as balloon-sleeved scrubs, neon stoles, and the occasional Hawaiian shirt. Variegated stripes ran throughout furry shrugs, buttoned shirts, structured totes, and woven heels. Round-shouldered blouses and relaxed pencil skirts were a counterpoint to last season's sharp and skintight. Her rococo reference came into play with elaborate curlicues of the type usually seen on a Greek statue - except in neon green. When combined with the clean lines of boxy tees and streamlined shifts, they created a bizarre - but not altogether disagreeable - juxtaposition. Similarly, a quick flirtation with banana print yielded a flourish of artistic whimsy. Though the clashing of silhouettes and patterns seemed somewhat haphazard, even the most inharmonious ensembles were curiously unified. And like all singularly unique collections, it was timeless; it couldn't be identified as "2010," or the '90s, or the '60s for that matter. Rather, its charm lay in the fact that - perhaps due to its myriad of disparate of elements - it was impossible to pinpoint.

all photos from nymag.com