Let's take a quick look at the latest news from Prada: the company reported record-breaking profits in 2012; they designed costumes for big budget movie du jour The Great Gatsby; and their dresses are popping up left, right and centre on the red carpet. Is it just us, or is this Italian label having a bit of a moment?

It's notable that the elusive Miuccia Prada has chosen this week to give a rare interview to T magazine, musing on the exciting power of ugly (that’s fashion ugly, not real life ugly) and how fashion can “emancipate” women.

Prada hasn’t traditionally been a big red carpet hit (the full-glamour gown hasn't really been in its arsenal until recently), but some high-profile appearances across the world recently have changed all that (pictured above) – on Best Supporting Actress Hathaway at the Oscars, on Audrey Tautou at the Cannes Film Festival, and of course on Carey Mulligan's publicity tour of The Great Gatsby, which features 40 looks adapted from previous Prada designs.

Last year the company’s net profits rose by 44.9 per cent, so Prada is clearly doing something very right. A few words from the designer herself might give us a clue.

Miuccia on other designers copying Prada: “The job is to do something interesting with ideas, and if it is copied I couldn’t care less.”

On the power of fashion: “You can use clothes to reinvent yourself. The first thing a poor person has is her body. People talk about luxury — and fashion is more or less expensive — but it is nevertheless democratic.”

On branding: “I want Prada to be successful. But the idea of the brand doesn’t interest me, and I never think about it.”

On selling online: "We don't like it. I don't care. My husband hates it and we think that, for luxury, it's not right… Personally, I'm not interested."

On designing: “I’m not interested in the silhouette and I’m not able to draw. It’s complicated. I am trying to work out which images of the female I want to analyse. I’m not really interested in clothes or style.”

On ugliness: “Ugly is attractive, ugly is exciting… The investigation of ugliness is, to me, more interesting than the bourgeois idea of beauty. And why? Because ugly is human. It touches the bad and the dirty side of people.”

It seems success for Prada is all about not caring about what other brands are doing – whether that's e-commerce or elaborate branding. Miuccia Prada continues to carve out her own route through the industry, and if sales are anything to go by, she's got the right idea.