Miuccia was an unlikely candidate for a fashion luminary. She earned a PhD in political science, was a member of the Italian Communist party, and spent years performing as a mime. In 1978, her mother passed down leadership of the family luxury luggage company founded by Miuccia’s grandfather in Milan in1913. Miuccia’s first success came in the 1980s with utilitarian nylon handbags that quickly became must-haves among the fashionable elite. She soon added an equally sensible line of beautifully made women’s ready-to-wear, later adding a men’s line. Both achieved the same iconic status as her original nylon bags. View the most recent runway shows from Milan