In the midst of a global pandemic—when the biggest concert venue is Zoom, fashion shows arrive in boxes, and a pair of jeans feels like occasionwear—who, and what, do we dress for?

Staged in a liminal space somewhere between stadium and runway, Miu Miu’s Spring/Summer 2021 collection pays homage to the ambiguous and fluctuating desires of a moment when sartorial context has been stripped away. As models saunter through the space in kitten heels, bejeweled track jackets, pink ruffled skirts, and shiny vinyl sneakers in an OMA-designed court, Prada’s little sister invites femininity and athleticism—two forms of gendered performance—into dialogue.

Referencing the conceptual overlap between fashion week and athletic events, the show’s staging transforms the elliptical sports stadium into an “arena of observation”—a public, digitally-mediated amphitheater that fuses the reality of the physical runway with its virtual spectators. Along the elliptical stadium walls are placed countless screens, where a digital collective—full of familiar faces like Elle Fanning, Alexa Chung, and Zoey Deutch—convene to watch the show, all wearing Miu Miu.

Pairing the trappings of conventional femininity with the aesthetic signifiers of sports, Miu Miu invites a playful interplay between disparate visual elements. Taken as a whole, the collection addresses the paradox of a moment when style has become more ‘personal’ than ever, and we have become our own spectators. “Inherent is a sense of polarity,” explains the brand in a press release. “Evening clothing against sportswear, pragmatism and preciousness, reality versus digital, an event staged to an empty stadium, yet simultaneously observed by many.”