MILAN - Italian iconic fashion house Prada transformed 1950s American housewives into would-be Bond girls on Thursday, with a lethally seductive look which gave a powerful twist to the classic hourglass dress.

Checkered dresses in red and white or baby blue were the collection's mainstay, pulled in at the waist by wide or slim gold or silver belts, but slit open at the bodice's neckline, as if ripped by an amorous James Bond.

Sleeves to just below the elbow ended in large fur cuffs and every hemline on the catwalk was asymmetrical, sweeping around the body to show bare calves.

Day wear merged with night-time glamour, with exquisitely embroidered and glittering panels inserted into brown, grey or checkered hourglass dresses.

As well as little black numbers, there were dresses with vertical stripes in red and green and parcels of colour, such as wide red or blue skirt hems.

A brown fur jacket was paired with a red leather skirt and flat black shoes.

The setting was theatrical: The autumn-winter 2013 collection by the Milanese company, which started out in 1913 as a luggage maker for Italy's kings, was held in a transformed former warehouse at Prada headquarters.

Video images projected onto the walls alongside the runway showed a mysterious woman, in silhouette, who lingered at the doorway of her house, running her hands through her hair and looking wistfully out down the road.

What she was planning to do if Bond did show is anyone's guess: but there was a hint in some of Prada's more revealing creations, such as a brown see-through number worn over black pants with a golden zip down to the crotch.