23 February 2023 |
Kim Jones likes to lean into his menswear expertise to guide his deeply feminine Fendi wardrobe. His neat tailoring and languid silhouettes speak to self-assured elegance that is winning over the brand’s multi-generational clientele. That’s because his design handwriting starts with the women who’ve built the house, particularly Silvia Venturini Fendi, who designs menswear and accessories, and her daughter Delfina Delettrez Fendi, the brain’s behind the house’s jewellery. Jones is particularly fascinated by the ways Delfina mines the Fendi archive and makes pieces from the 1990: and ‘00s completely her own. “There’s a chicness but a perversity to the way she twists Fendi, which is what I love.”
Emerging from a tunnel of light, soundtracked by Julee Cruise’s “Falling”, came powder blue deconstructed knits, sequin-lined macs and crisp, cotton shirts that migrated into negligees. Echoes of Delfina’s school uniform were seen in the kilt-trouser hybrids, as models came carrying new, folding Fendi Multi bags. A sophisticated palette of grey, black, cream, navy and chocolate brown made way for a parade of raspberry red and hot pink, as the closing graphic, ribbed-knit dress, with its chiffon train, had an air of Jones’ latest couture collection, debuted in January. There was something here for every kind of Fendi woman.
Photography courtesy of Fendi:
