Spring finds Kim Jones in a reflective frame of mind. Twenty-twenty-five marks Fendi’s centennial—and for the designer’s bravura performance that combined technical innovation and handcraft, Jones was thinking not just about the Roman house’s path from a small leather and fur shop, but also about everything else happening in the cultural sphere at the time of its founding in 1925. Context is key, to paraphrase a certain viral coconut meme. So Jones name-checked everything from the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts (from which the Art Deco movement takes its name) to the publication of the landmark modernist novels Mrs. Dalloway and The Great Gatsby.
Jones’s point was that most things we think of as modern—like sportswear separates and clothes built for movement—actually come out of the Roaring Twenties. Naked dressing? Not nearly so shocking if you’ve seen Isadora Duncan’s scarf dance. And there was a dancerly character to much of the lineup, with fringed pieces you could imagine Daisy Buchananen dancing the Charleston in, and Martha Graham-like slipdresses in silk. Some were suspended upside down from the waist with the spaghetti straps hanging to the ankles, as though the models had been in the wings removing warm-ups when they suddenly found themselves on stage. Many of the looks played with transparency, such as a completely sheer, crystal-embellished maxidress worn over a knit bralette and tap shorts. But there were also soft suedes and shearlings in cozy robe shapes.
Fendi has always been a woman-run label. Silvia Venturini Fendi, creative director of accessories and menswear, and her daughter Delfina Delettrez Fendi, artistic director of jewelry, are the third and fourth generations of Fendi women to contribute their vision. Jones nodded to this matriarchal legacy with a soundtrack that melded the music of Max Richter with a voiceover from Venturini Fendi and her mother, Anna Fendi, talking about the entrepreneurial spirit of Anna’s mother, Adele Fendi, who set up shop on Via del Plebiscito long before it was the norm for women to work outside the home. There was a level of comfort and inherent pragmatism to even the most elaborate fabrications in the collection, like a suede croco cut as an oversize T-shirt dress. Many of the looks were grounded with Red Wing work boots transformed in the Fendi workshop with supple Cuoio Romano leather and Selleria hand stitching.
