Rome (AFP) – Fendi presented its first haute couture show under designer Maria Grazia Chiuri Thursday, showcasing a luxurious collection of black and cream looks, and paying homage to longtime couturier Karl Lagerfeld. Held in Rome, where Fendi was established in 1925, the show was attended by celebrities including Monica Bellucci, Jessica Alba, and Chiara Ferragni. It opened with the luxury brand’s instantly recognizable black and cream stripes on sheer, diaphanous dresses and tunics.
Reworked swirls and diagonals were prominent throughout Chiuri’s highly elegant collection, featuring satin and delicate sheer fabrics as central elements, along with 1930s Art Deco motifs like silvery graphics. Under the high white ceilings and marble columns of The National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art, guests sipped prosecco and sampled hors d’oeuvres while some fanned themselves with their newly gifted Fendi-labeled raffia fans to combat the July humidity.
The event, a significant night in the international fashion calendar, was attended by Italy’s minister of culture. Rome’s mayor described the evening as evidence that it wasn’t just Milan making fashion waves. “Rome is increasingly establishing itself on the international fashion scene as one of the major fashion capitals,” Mayor Roberto Gualtieri told AFP, praising Rome-born Chiuri as an “extraordinary artist” and “top Roman.”
The event also included a tribute to Lagerfeld, the German legend who served as the creative director of the house for over 50 years before his death in 2019. Guests toured a reprise of his famous 1985 museum exhibition with Fendi. “After steps through work. Fendi/Karl Lagerfeld 1985,” which opens Friday to the public and runs through October 25, highlights the myriad creative processes that make up a Fendi garment, from original sketches and sample boards to patterns and toiles.
In 1985, the show held at the very same art museum caused a scandal for daring to bring fashion into the erudite ranks of a museum. “It caused quite a stir. Great art critics praised it, but at the same time, there were those who could not accept fashion entering the world of art, even sparking a parliamentary debate,” Silvia Venturini Fendi, the brand’s honorary president, told Vogue magazine last year.
Today, the practice of museums collaborating with fashion houses, tapping their archives and presenting their designs, is widespread. Fashion as a legitimate form of art is now celebrated around the world. Fendi, owned since 2001 by French conglomerate LVMH, hired Chiuri last October, bringing the Roman back to the house where she began her career in accessories under Lagerfeld. After stints at Valentino and making history as the first woman to creatively head Dior, Chiuri expressed her desire to “give back” to those who inspired her early on – the Fendi sisters behind the business and her mentor Lagerfeld.
The National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art holds the country’s largest collection of Italian and international art from the 19th and 20th centuries, including masterpieces by Giorgio de Chirico, Amedeo Modigliani, and others.
© 2024 AFP
