There are two entirely separate garments called a vest here and the range includes both. The nylon down gilet descends directly from Prada's 1984 nylon backpack and the technical line that followed, which is the single most influential material decision the house ever made. The knitted version is the opposite instinct, a cashmere v-neck that belongs to preppy tailoring rather than to sportswear. Re-Nylon is the recycled version of the original fabric and looks identical, which was clearly the point. That a Prada vest can mean either of these things is why the term keeps getting searched.

The cashmere V neck vest is the layering piece that goes over a shirt and under a coat. The ribbed jersey tank is the lighter one, meant to be seen on its own.

The cardigans are what the sleeveless pieces are designed to sit over or under. Openwork cotton and argyle cashmere are both doing deliberate preppy references, which the house has been mining since the late 1990s. Stripes in a cashmere and silk blend give a knit some drape, so it hangs rather than sits, and that changes how a vest layers over it. Printed cashmere is the most Prada object in the group, taking a serious quiet material and doing something loud with it. Layering a vest over a cardigan is a genuinely odd proposition that this house makes work.

The argyle cardigan carries a pattern with a long history in knitwear, and it reads as deliberate rather than accidental. The printed version is the bolder of the two.

Decide which vest you actually want before shopping, because the nylon and the cashmere have nothing in common beyond the word. The down gilet is the more useful garment and the knitted one is the more interesting purchase. Re-Nylon wears identically to the original and there is no argument for choosing the older fabric. Cashmere in a sleeveless cut pills at the armhole first, so check the ply before anything else. If you are buying one thing from this house, the nylon is still the correct answer twenty years on.