MFW SS25 - Fendi, Celebrating a Century of Craftsmanship

Fendi SS25, the show before the Italian brand celebrates 100 years since the first store opening, was held on the 17th of September. It was a Fendi family affair, Silvia Venturini Fendi did accessories, Delfina Delettrez Fendi did jewellery, the background score had Silvia & her mother Anna Fendi discussing the iconic Adele Fendi.

Director of womenswear & couture, Kim Jones said in the show's notes, “the foundations of how women dress today and, in many ways, how we think are in the 1920s. It’s about modernity in style and attitude. 1925 has so many milestone moments. It is the founding year of Fendi, but also the year of the Art Deco exhibition in Paris – The International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts – from where the name is taken. Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby are also published. There’s modernism in dress, design, decoration and thought. We approached the collection with these things in mind, as an amalgam of epochs, moods and techniques – then and now.”

Throughout the collection one can see references to the roaring 20s in America with the sheer dresses, dropped waists, kitten heels, fringe adornments, robe silhouettes and the iconic Mamma Baguette. The Jazz Age references and the Gatsbyesque outfits interspersed with masculine ideas as was becoming the case when women started to move away as the loosening of dress codes took place. The Fendi & Red Wing Heritage collaboration was one of the key aspects of this collection, with multiple colourways of the Classic Moc boots.

Whilst the references mentioned are visible, the reinterpretation of 20s era fashion just seems extremely overdone, especially keeping in mind how historic this show was meant to be. In any other year, this collection signals the way current trends for womenswear are mixing masculine pieces with glamorous feminine ideas. However, when one recalls the 90th anniversary show at the Trevi Fountain in Rome with a glass catwalk, this particular show doesn't seem to possess the ability to stand its own against it. If I were to ponder more, I would wonder whatever happened to having iconic sets, specifically in the outside world. To celebrate an iconic Italian brand why not take to the streets where it was built?

Apart from the set, the reimagining of Prohibition era fashion in a muted, earthy colour palette was beautiful but again was it enough for this momentous occasion? I also kept hoping to see Kim’s take on the mermaid green dress that is so well known from Clarissa Dalloway’s wardrobe. To sum it up, the collection was lovely, multiple amazing pieces which can be styled in various ways, extremely reminiscent of the current trends & colours we see but all in all, it wasn't something one would remember years down the line as a defining collection for the centennial of one of Italy's staples.