“Less I, More Us,” directed the mantra stenciled on the runway and across the webbing of some of the bags. And it’s true: many aspects of Maria Grazia Chiuri’s debut show as chief creative officer at Fendi this afternoon were about asserting togetherness, pluralism, and collaboration. Yet this was also clearly very much a Chiuri-conducted operation. Before the show she had spoken repeatedly about focusing on silhouette. By the time she took her bow it was apparent that as much as the outline of her looks, she was also engaged in redefining the shape of Fendi itself.
The boldest move in Chiuri’s restoration was its redesigned emphasis on fur. Fendi’s core metier is fur, yet for years it has glossed over that in the face of disapprobation across many (but by no means all) markets. Today there was no missing the provenance of the trims, collars and fringes on studded or animalia gilets, or within trenches, or on a long black leather coat of hand-cut floral sections stitched together like lace.
It was the men who wore the most extravagant, furriest furs: look 21’s foxy throwback, look 51’s longhaired green-dyed blazer, and look 38’s shaggy patchwork mix. One woman-worn jacket saw scraps of fur stitched into a woodland camouflage. These showcased Chiuri’s new Echo Of Love project, which offers clients the opportunity to work with the Fendi atelier to redesign precious furs they already possess, and which may embody “emotional durability”—a personal meaning embedded within the material. “I have pieces that for me are very important because they give me some emotion, and remind me of some moment in my life. I think the link with the object is very personal.” said Chiuri. The recent-ish return of fur, when vintage, to the lexicon of dressing amongst young people in cities including New York seems to have prefigured this new Fendi experiment.
Other personal touches in this collection included the detachable collars in white cotton, black leather, black fur, and other fabrications which reminded many in the audience of Karl Lagerfeld’s famous Hilditch Key bespoke shirting. These seemed a tribute, and maybe also a statement: in this coed show it was only women who wore them. A further tribute came via the collaboration with artist SAGG Napoli, who expressed her “South Aesthetics” through the fur football scarves and T-shirts declaring a tribal affinity with the five Fendi sisters under whom Chiuri worked in her first decade here between 1989 and 1999. These also came emblazoned with declarations which included “rooted but not stuck” and “volcanic but not destructive.” A second collaboration with the estate of Mirella Bentivoglio saw Fendi reissue jewelry and graphics (on T-shirts) originally conceived by the late artist to excavate the unevenly gendered loads of language.
Bentivoglio’s wryly subversive self-awareness and her plays of subject and object seemed to sync with Chiuri’s placement of males in the most ‘trophy’ of pieces. Yet as well as experimenting with the placement of her accents, the designer also worked to establish a shared grammar. Her neatly skirted double-breasted notch-collar jackets, her strap fastened single-breasteds, her double denim, and her donkey jacket topcoats were just some of the looks she presented twice, on both men and women as part of her shared wardrobe approach.
A further singular approach to the plural potential within Fendi could be traced by focusing on the bags. Chiuri was part of the accessories team that first developed the house’s Baguette, and selleria (or saddlery and leatherwork) is Fendi’s second foundational pillar. She worked to revive the philosophy she recalled the Baguette being baked for, applying embroidered beading or fur via craft skills from across the house’s areas of expertise. The design was also given a new second strap to allow for slinging across the shoulder.
Appropriately enough, the core silhouette that Chiuri was sketching seemed sometimes akin to an X. This was shaped by the negative space of a deep-V neckline and the outflowing edges of a tapered skirt or jacket. For those who’ve followed her two previous tours as above-the-door designer at Valentino and Dior, this was just one element within this collection in which you could recognize Chiuri’s own signatures: Less I and More Us, but also Very Her.
“I’ve received such a nice welcome here, from Paula, from Anna, from Silvia and the family, and also from people who have worked here a long time and who I remember from when I was younger,” said Chiuri. “When people are so welcoming, you feel that you want to give back.”
