What is it that Miu Miu gets about desire that so many luxury brands still miss? The house founded by Miuccia Prada is not just one of fashion’s most talked-about names—it’s become a case study in brand allure. So, what explains its appeal? In this conversation, CEO Silvia Onofri shares a rare, behind-the-scenes look at the ideas, values, and choices behind Miu Miu, from creativity and leadership to Gen Z, artificial intelligence and why perfection is no longer the point.
Every encounter brings its own kind of energy. It comes from people, from the spaces they inhabit, and from the exchange of stories and curiosity. Inside the historic halls of Palazzo Turati, home to Istituto Marangoni Milano in Via Meravigli 7, students gathered to meet Silvia Onofri, CEO of Miu Miu since February 2025.
It was meant to be a conversation about her career, but it gradually became something more personal. Questions kept coming, and Onofri answered them with an ease and openness usually reserved for people you trust.
How Do You Become CEO of Miu Miu? Silvia Onofri’s Career Journey
Born in Rome, with that unmistakable and proud sense of belonging that speaks for itself, Silvia Onofri studied Economics before furthering her education through specialised courses in London.
Silvia Onofri, CEO of Miu Miu, in conversation with students during Meravigli Talks at Palazzo Turati, Milan. Her career began at Bulgari in 2000, where she spent more than six years at the heart of Roman luxury. Afterwards, a family move to Southeast Asia turned into a sabbatical year, taking her between Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong and southern China. As she tells it, that time allowed her to slow down, focus on her family, and observe different cultures and markets up close. She knew it would not last forever, but the experience stayed with her.
When she returned, Silvia Onofri joined Bally, where she spent fifteen years steadily working her way up to become CEO EMEA and Chief Commercial Officer, Global Wholesale.
Silvia Onofri, CEO of Miu Miu, in conversation with students during Meravigli Talks at Palazzo Turati, Milan. In 2023, she moved to VF Corporation as Brand President of Napapijri, bringing a vision in which aesthetics, functionality, and desirability all speak the same language.
Then came the call from Prada Group. Miu Miu was waiting—and, looking back at her journey, it becomes clear how each step prepared the ground for what came next.
Why Function Has Become a Luxury Value
Today, the dialogue between performance and luxury is far from marginal. American and Asian consumers understand this well: they seek comfort, functionality, and a quality that can be felt beyond mere image.
The collaboration between Miu Miu and New Balance captures this convergence perfectly. One of the brand’s most coveted products emerged from the coming together of styles that might once have seemed far apart, yet are now closely connected.
What Makes Miu Miu Different?
Miu Miu is a universe where eras, references, contradictions and irony coexist. “Every single morning I have to decide if I am a 15-year-old girl or an old lady near to death,” Miuccia Prada told Vogue just a couple of years ago. The remark captures not only the designer’s own outlook and the broader Prada universe, but, above all, Miu Miu’s defining ambivalence: innocence and awareness, playfulness and sophistication, instinct and intention.
View this post on Instagram
It is also a mindset that Silvia Onofri seems to have embraced. Miu Miu does not chase trends: it cultivates a culture. It’s not just about finding customers, but about connecting with people who recognise something familiar within the brand.
Being a Miu Miu girl is an attitude long before it is a wardrobe.
Inside Miu Miu’s Creative Culture
When I ask Silvia Onofri what the very first thing one feels upon entering Miu Miu’s offices is, the answer comes immediately: energy.
She describes it as a distinctly feminine energy, powered by the people who make up the team. It’s a point she returns to several times throughout the conversation: results matter, but it’s people who really make the difference.
Can Artificial Intelligence Make Fashion More Creative?
The students’ questions keep coming, and she does not shy away from any of them. When one student asks how Miu Miu approaches artificial intelligence, Onofri doesn’t hesitate: they use it as a support tool, never as a substitute for vision.
AI belongs in processes, not in ideas. It is a distinction that reveals much about both the brand and her understanding of leadership.
View this post on Instagram
If perfection is no longer the answer, emotional intelligence, individuality, and imperfection may well be.
“Today, perfection is no longer interesting. Protect your own way of doing things” – Silvia Onofri, CEO of Miu Miu
Indeed, methodology can be taught, while identity needs to be protected.
Will Miu Miu Ever Launch Beauty?
One student asks whether a Miu Miu beauty line could exist in the future. Silvia Onofri smiles and does not rule out the possibility.
If it ever happens, she explains, it certainly wouldn’t be a conventional beauty line. It would likely begin with the idea of no-make-up makeup, with playful essentials like lip gloss. As with everything in the Miu Miu universe, beauty would be reimagined through its own codes, never just copied from elsewhere.
Is Gen Z Changing the Meaning of Luxury?
Onofri believes the younger generation is slowing down, searching for something more meaningful, and returning to rhythms and habits that feel more human. And luxury, perhaps, has every reason to pay attention.
@miumiu Spotted @Chiara King celebrating the #NewBalancexMiuMiu collection in collaboration with Coco Gauff. Which piece are you going to pick up? #MiuMiu ♬ original sound - Miu Miu
She points to one phrase as an unmistakable sign of stagnation: “We’ve always done it this way.” In any creative environment, those five words point precisely to the moment when one should stop listening.
Her own journey—from Rome to London, from Asia to Australia, across international markets spanning Europe and America—tells a different story: that the ability to adapt comes from cross-pollination, changing perspectives, and a willingness to take non-linear paths.
What Does Becoming CEO of Miu Miu Really Feel Like?
When she’s asked what she felt first after learning she would become the new CEO of Miu Miu, her answer is charmingly simple. From that moment on, she says with amusement, she became “the coolest mum” in the eyes of her daughter and her daughter’s classmates.
“Becoming CEO of Miu Miu instantly made me the coolest mum in the eyes of my daughter and her classmates” – Silvia Onofri
She says it with a smile, almost as a joke. Yet few stories capture Miu Miu’s cultural relevance to a new generation quite so effortlessly.