This past Saturday Unicorn Happy Hallothanksmas Halloween Christmas shirt. Aurora James, the founder of sustainable accessories brand Brother Vellies, was sitting on her porch and talking to a friend on the phone about the George Floyd protests sweeping through U.S. cities. The conversation quickly turned to more pragmatic ways in which the fashion industry could be of service, beyond the Black Lives Matter statements that were beginning to hit Instagram feeds.

Both Miuccia Prada and Ludovic de Saint Sernin posited the towel-as-garment for spring 2020, wrapping terry cloth minis around models’ waists Unicorn Happy Hallothanksmas Halloween Christmas shirt. Amidst the upper-crust-on-holiday leather suits and proper gold-chain handbags of Miuccia Prada’s arte povera via Positano show was model Silte Haken in a white towel, folded over and cinched at her left hip. It was styled with a seashell-as-pearl necklace, a simple knit top, and a pair of woven loafers. In its mid-to-late-century iteration, a towel was often a shorthand for glamorous escapism—think of Vogue’s 1966 images of Contessa Brandolini d’Adda in her Venetian palazzo, hair wrapped up in a white towel, or the many ’80s babes that appeared in our magazine running, tanning, and primping with a towel dutifully wrapped around their middle. Prada’s towel skirt—available for purchase with a PR monogram (add your own “ADA”)—feels like a continuation of that idea, a declaration that elegance must be present even poolside.