Catherine Martin launches the new Miu Miu Upcycled collection

Miu Miu teams up with Catherine Martin, costume designer, producer, and four-time Academy Award winner, for a special Miu Miu Upcycled collection that also marks her directorial debut with the short film "Grande Envie". Launched in 2020, Miu Miu Upcycled is a series of special collections that breathe new life into vintage garments, carefully sourced from vintage markets and stores around the world, and reimagined through the Miu Miu lens to promote a new aesthetic. The project began with a selection of vintage dresses, reinterpreted through Miu Miu’s codes and guided by circular economy principles, giving new meaning to pre-owned and pre-loved garments.

Grande Envie by Catherine Martin for Miu Miu Upcycled

The short film "Grande Envie" by Catherine Martin tells the story of a love triangle set in the South of France between the late 1920s and early 1930s. "A dynamic era, between two world wars, marked by contrast and change among styles," the director explains. Starring Callina Liang, Daisy Ridley, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Diana Silvers, and Eliot Sumner, with a special appearance by Willem Dafoe. The story unfolds in a lavish château where a widowed count (Willem Dafoe) encounters three young strangers, all burning with a “desire for adventure” that summer. The ghost of the late countess (Daisy Ridley) haunts the scene, tormenting her widower through the lens of a camera, in a web of memories, then and now, between decadence and youthful longing.

Catherine Martin draws inspiration from that historic Eden where artists and writers once sought escape and new forms of freedom. Martin reveals she shaped the aesthetic of her Miu Miu Upcycled collection after 1920s photographs by Jacques Henri Lartigue, images that captured the fleeting nature of modern life and were only rediscovered in the 1960s. “The collection proposes unexpected pairings: lingerie with striped T-shirts, denim with eveningwear, rowing blazers,” she explains. “The beautiful and the ordinary clash to merge in extraordinary ways, much like they did in the 1920s and 30s. What fascinates me about this collection is the constant juxtaposition between the practical and the precious. These looks speak to the hedonistic beach culture of the time,” Martin says, “which comes through strongly in the photos from that era.”

In the words of the director

As for her approach, Catherine Martin shares her fascination with the Miu Miu Upcycled collections and the idea of transforming the meaning of a garment by using it in an entirely different way. In her storytelling, this becomes “the past invading the present,” much like the character of the countess in her short film. “Miu Miu Upcycled gives new life to clothes from the past, transforming them into absolute luxury, in a process where love and care make everything more meaningful than it was before.”

Campaign images by Michella Bredahl

The new collection comes to life through the lens of campaign photographer Michella Bredahl, who captures the dreamy, suspended atmosphere on set during the final hours of the late afternoon light. Actors and models move through the château like wandering spirits, drifting through bedrooms, staircases, terraces, and gardens lost to time. A sense of eternal youth in search of unexpected encounters. The campaign reflects how past, present, and future remain a fascinating mystery to every generation. Asked about her over-30-year collaboration with Miuccia Prada, Catherine Martin replies: “It works so well because we are both deeply engaged in a rigorous and demanding intellectual process that explores the human experience in today’s world.” For Martin, romance and ethical sensitivity are not at odds. “Grande Envie” and the entire campaign are about longing. That spirit defines the new Miu Miu Upcycled collection: where our growing sensitivity toward garment longevity becomes an intimate creative language of reinterpretation and rebirth. Miu Miu Upcycled by Catherine Martin will debut on June 7 at the New Bond Street store in London, where it will be available exclusively for two weeks, and from June 21 in selected stores worldwide.