Kim Jones rummages through the house’s archives to deliver its new delicate-yet-rigid, hyper-feminine collection.
The end of London Fashion Week can only mean one thing: it’s time for Milan Fashion Week. And, when it came to day one of the Italian-bound affair, it is fair to say that the unveiling of Fendi‘s AW22 collection is all that anyone could focus on, and rightly so.
Underneath a set of sleek, architectural concrete arches, Artistic Director Kim Jones looked to unveil a collection in which the archives were utilised to dream up a new vision for Fendi’s future. Inherently delicate, we were treated to bounds of fluid pastel chiffon, akin to Fendi’s Karl Lagerfeld-crafted SS00 collection and its SS86 display, that clung to the model’s bodies, highlighting the joys of the female form. Juxtaposition was rife however, as for every delicate slip dress and ruffled hem, there was a military-like tweed blazer resulting in a blended uniform, fitting for the Fendi woman.
When discussing, the latest collection and its archival influence, Jones divulged, “The best place to explore the Fendi archives is through the Fendi wardrobes. And these are collections which, although they come from the past, feel very now.”
While the Italian house’s collections of the past definitely took influence here, a much more personal reference prevailed upon further inspection. With Jones looking to the daughter of Silvia Venturini Fendi, Delfina Delettrez, and literally taking the Memphis blouse, of which she stole from her mother, off of her back to inform the patterning of the collection, the strong sense of family that the Artistic Director and Fendi collective adore so much presented itself, subtly. But, with long-standing friend of the house, Bella Hadid, opening up the show, this fact became all the more clear.
