There’s not much point in writing a long-winded introduction to what exactly the Miu Miu skirt set is. Because by now, it feels as though pretty much the entire world knows.
The stomach-baring belt-sized skirt — paired with either a cropped cable knit jumper and shirt or a barely-there matching bandeau — is from the brand’s SS22 collection and has been worn by everyone from EmRata and Emma Corrin to Zendaya and Nicole Kidman, going viral in the process. The set has even been ripped off by Fashion Nova, as fashion writer and researcher The Kimbino pointed out. Just last week, Paloma Elsesser created the most buzz around the look yet when she wore it on the cover of i-D’s Out of Body issue. “I’m not wearing a stretchy dress. I’m wearing Miu Miu,” she told Ericka Hart, as they discussed experiences with their bodies and representation in the fashion industry.
The same day the cover launched, the set got its own Instagram account, @miumiuset, created by 17-year-old Ashley Langholtz. We spoke with her to find out exactly why she started it and what she thinks the future holds for the internet’s most memed look since 2015’s black-blue-white-gold dress.
First of all, who are you, what do you do and where are you from?
I’m from outside New York City, like 30 minutes north, in the suburbs. I’m in year 12 here — my last year of high school. I’m 17. I have two months left, and then I’m hoping to move to the city full time to study fashion marketing.
When was the first time you saw the Miu Miu skirt set?
It’s actually kind of interesting, because now that I think about it, when I first saw the collection in the fall I actually didn’t really like it. I just felt like it was a bit different for Miu Miu. It felt not as girly. But now I’ve come to like it a lot. I really just made this account for that set, literally a week ago. I woke up on Monday and all my feed was the set, so I don’t really know why I thought to create an account for it. And then I guess the account went viral too.
I started my own account @styledbyashb about a year ago. I do virtual styling there. It’s really just to build my portfolio. I have 10.6k followers on there. I guess it’s kind of viral, but the Miu Miu set is the first time something like this has happened.
Who follows the account?
Someone cool was stylist Lotta Volkova. Who else? I don’t know, I can’t keep track!
And how are you keeping track of what you post considering the skirt set is literally everywhere?
I have an album in my photos where I have all of them in there. So I basically find them a bunch of different ways. I scroll through all the tagged posts, and then a lot of people DM me and tag me and stuff, so that helped. I was on school break last week, and I was just going on models.com and scrolling the editorials, and screenshotted a bunch of those too.
How did you feel about the i-D cover with Paloma wearing the set?
That’s kind of what sparked the account really! I feel that’s part of the reason why there were so many people posting about it. i-D is like my favourite magazine — I’m not just saying that. I love all the editorials. I don’t think [the set] should be for any specific body type. My body is more mid-size, so it’s nice to see all different kinds of bodies represented and styled wearing the set.
How do you think you’ll keep the Instagram account going?
I still have about 70 plus images to post! A magazine tagged me and said it was similar to the @newbottega account, so I guess maybe I could do that for Miu Miu in the long run. Or even just make it into a mood board account.