Rome (AFP) – Fendi celebrates the first haute couture show by newly seated designer Maria Grazia Chiuri in its home city of Rome on Thursday, along with a homage to longtime couturier Karl Lagerfeld. Held in Rome, where Fendi was established in 1925, rather than Italy’s fashion capital of Milan, the show represents not only a love letter to the capital but a tribute to Lagerfeld, the German legend who for more than 50 years was creative director of the house, before his death in 2019.
The National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art, venue for the fashion show being held later on Thursday, will also host a reprise of the famous 1985 museum exhibition by Lagerfeld. “After steps through work. Fendi/Karl Lagerfeld 1985,” which opens Friday to the public and runs through October 25, will highlight the myriad creative processes that make up a haute couture garment.
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.
The practice of museums collaborating with fashion houses, tapping their archives and presenting their designs, is today widespread, and fashion as a legitimate form of art is now celebrated throughout the world. Fendi, owned since 2001 by French conglomerate LVMH, hired Chiuri last October, bringing the Roman back to the house where she started her career in accessories under Lagerfeld.
After stints at Valentino and making history as the first woman to creatively head Dior, Chiuri said earlier this year that in returning to Fendi, she wanted to “give back” to those who had inspired her early on — both 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.
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