Younger Years
Famed fashion designer Miuccia Prada was born Maria Bianchi Prada on May 10, 1949, in Milan, Italy. She was the youngest granddaughter of Mario Prada, who started the Prada fashion line in 1913 by manufacturing well-crafted, high-end suitcases, handbags and steamer trunks for the Milanese elite.
Prada was an unlikely inheritor of her family's business. A former member of the Italian Communist Party, Prada attended the University of Milan, where she made a name for herself as an ardent feminist and earned a Ph.D. in political science. Following her academic work, Prada planted herself at Milan's Piccolo Teatro, where she trained as a mime for five years.