Miuccia Prada

Miuccia Bianchi Prada (Italian: [ˈmjuttʃa ˈpraːda, miˈu-]; born Maria Bianchi [maˈriːa ˈbjaŋki] on 10 May 1949) is an Italian billionaire fashion designer and businesswoman. She is the head designer of Prada and the founder of its subsidiary Miu Miu. As of October 2021, Forbes estimated her net worth at US$4.8 billion. In August 2021, Bloomberg estimated her net worth to be $6.6 billion, ranking 430th in the world.

The youngest granddaughter of Mario Prada, Miuccia Prada took over the family-owned luxury goods manufacturer in 1978. Since then, the company has acquired Jil Sander, Helmut Lang and shoemaker Church & Co. In 2002, Prada opened her own contemporary art museum.

In March 2013, Prada was named one of the fifty best dressed over-50s by Forbes. The magazine listed her as the 75th most powerful woman in the world in 2014, when she had an estimated net worth of $11.1 billion.

Born Maria Bianchi on 10 May 1949 in Milan, she took the name Miuccia Prada in the 1980s, after being adopted by an aunt. Her biological parents were Luigi Bianchi and Luisa Prada. She has two older siblings, Albert and Marina.

After attending Liceo Classico Berchet high school in Milan, Prada went to the University of Milan where she graduated with a degree in political science in 1971, while on the same time studying acting at the Piccolo Teatro in Milan. In 1978, she subsequently obtained a PhD in political science from the same university.

Prada trained at the Teatro Piccolo to become a mime artist and performed for five years. She was a member of the Italian Communist Party and was involved in the women's rights movement during the seventies in Milan.

By the mid-Seventies, Prada entered into her family's business of manufacturing luxury leather bags, a company established by her grandfather in 1913. She initially oversaw the design of accessories. In 1978, she met her future husband and business partner, Patrizio Bertelli.

Prada's first successful handbag design was in 1985. It was a line of black, finely-woven nylon handbags. By 1989, she designed and introduced her first women's ready-to-wear collection. In 1995, she launched her first menswear line. The Miu Miu line was introduced in 1992 as a less expensive womenswear line inspired by her personal wardrobe. She named it after her own nickname, Miu Miu.