Fendi

A Woman’s Touch. Fendi AW26 Couture

| Design & Culture by Ed

Nobody wants to have that conversation, but Maria Grazia Chiuri’s first haute couture collection for Fendi was very good. Of course, there were fillers – she just has to include those client-pleasers: the unassuming A-line, unwaisted silhouettes that tend to fall at mid-calf or ankle length. But then, at her Rome show at the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, there were genuine stunners, like an ivory cloak that looked like lace from a distance, only to reveal intricate flowers crafted from fur, leather, and fabric up close. Or the opening caftan, pieced together in black-and-white chevron stripes and modeled after a dress worn a century ago by Emilie Flöge. READ MY FULL REVIEW HERE.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Nobody Is Fun Anymore. Fendi AW26

| Design & Culture by Ed

For some strange reason, I had hoped that Maria Grazia Chiuri’s debut at Fendi would surprise us all with something genuinely fun (believe it or not, once upon a time Fendi was fun – before Kim Jones turned it into yet another beige Italian brand). But there was no trace of that spirit on her runway. At least, it was nowhere to be seen beyond a passing statement in the press release.

It seems that the only thing distinguishing Maria Grazia’s current mindset from her years at Dior is a looser relationship to a unifying theme. Her Fendi woman is slightly less uptight – perhaps. Yet this newly found “chill” made the latest collection resemble Zadig & Voltaire more than Fendi: slip dresses, military references, velvet jackets, denim – the building blocks of a rather dated understanding of “cool.”

And the menswear? Perhaps because Chiuri hasn’t designed menswear in decades, it ended up being one of the most compelling aspects of the collection. Funnily enough, in her universe, men are allowed to wear more fabulous furs than women.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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The Main Woman. Fendi AW25

| Design & Culture by Ed

Fendi celebrated its centennial in the only right way: with Silvia Venturini Fendi as the main woman at the helm. And after yesterday’s show, I hope she will stay with the brand’s womenswear for seasons to come. The collection just felt really, really good. It was chic and substantial, full of breath-taking craftsmanship and clothes (and accessories – like the netted beanies!) that are actually appealing. And there was a sense of nonchalant fun, reminiscing the spirit of Karl Lagerfeld (and something that was painfully absent throughout Kim Jones’ emotionless tenure). To mark the fact that fur, while central to Fendi, has always been just part of its offer, Venturini Fendi proposed collarless coats and dresses that featured furry facades (in either mohair or shearling) that looked like the reveres of these garments but were in fact removable stoles. Most of the spotlight-stealing fur coats were made in shearling. The red spotted dress was a particularly bravura example of this house’s craft.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Toned-Down. Fendi SS25

| Design & Culture by Ed

This year, Fendi celebrates its 100 years. Maybe that was the reason for Kim Jones to finally deliver a good collection for the brand. What kept it cohesive was the combination of house craft, toned-down color palette, and an attitude that stemmed from the jazz-age modernism of the 1920s. The embroidered flapper-dresses worked nicely with all the streamlined minimalism. Still, looking at the taupe shirt-dress, one just wonders what differs Fendi from Max Mara? Except for Baguette, pretty much nothing. It would be great to see some fun back at the brand, a Karl Lagerfeld-ian wit.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Futurism. Fendi SS24 Couture

| Design & Culture by Ed

“I wanted the collection to feel quite graphic rather than romantic because I was thinking about Fendi and how, under Karl, there was always an element of ‘futurism,’” Kim Jones said of his latest haute couture collection. “I didn’t go back to look at what Karl did, but I like to take the essence of it.” This couture collection landed especially well, because Jones didn’t base his concept on a specific Karl Lagerfeld collection that much. This was finally a Jones for Fendi collection, not a dig into the archives. The designer developed trompe l’oeil decorativeness of an unexpected kind, which appeared to be one of the biggest highlight from this very streamlined, sharp collection. “We wanted to do fur, but without using fur or fake fur,” he said. “So we’ve done it with embroidery instead.” Embroidered with miniscule filaments, and sewn in densely overlapping rippling formations, the results are feather-like and feather-light to wear, be it as a coat, dress, or pencil-skirt. There’s also something for the couture-minimalists: the opening look was as spare and reduced as could be, specifically a black, strapless calf-length column Jones called “a box-dress.”

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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