The dialogue between poetry and reality continues in Fendi Women’s Spring/Summer 2024 couture collection
Shedding the confines of costume and embracing the allure of pragmatism, the Fendi Women’s Spring/Summer 2024 couture collection spotlights the unparalleled skills of Fendi’s artisans — from embroiderers to tailors, pattern cutters to leather workers, dressmakers to furriers.
“I was thinking about Karl Lagerfeld’s futurism with Fendi,” says Kim Jones, artistic director of the brand’s couture and womenswear range. “In the collection, there is a humanism at the heart of this future; there’s the body, the silhouette within the silhouette, the person and the handwork of the couture. The collection is about structure and decoration, where the two become indivisible. I wanted an idea of precision and emotion at once.”
From the simplicity of geometric shapes to the primal allure of crocodile textures, a ‘human futurism’ threads through the collection, weaving together the constants of the past to create an extraordinary present and future. Here, structure metamorphoses into decoration, and decoration transforms into structure.
The journey begins with the introduction of the ‘Scatola’ silhouette, meaning ‘box,’ and concludes with the same precision in geometric pattern cutting, crafting new volumes with lightness and structure in fabrics like silk gazar. The tailleur follows the contours of the female form, clothing the wearer in traditionally masculine tailoring fabrics such as super kid mohair. Rib-knit dresses in the finest cashmere and vicuna yarns elegantly drape with knotted ‘Shibari’ harnesses, integral to the silhouette. Supple crocodile leather traverses the entire collection, adorning both clothing and accessories while invoking an instinctive allure. Each approach optimises lightness, sinuousness, and movement, drawing inspiration from the discipline of dance.
Yet, it is the meticulously crafted embroideries that truly entwine decoration and structure, emerging almost as a futuristic second skin. These intensely worked embroideries splice and dice the DNA of the natural and manmade world, creating feather-like fringe and innovative pelts. Organically shaped and fluidly contoured through delicate hand embroidery, these creations sinuously move with the wearer.
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Building upon the concept of the ‘couture ensemble’ extended to fine jewellery from the previous season, the collection introduces the notion of precious practicality to fine eyewear. Delfina Delettrez Fendi, artistic director of jewellery, presents ‘Singular Vision’ fine eyewear, custom-tailored through facial scans and realised in 18k white gold and white diamonds. These eyewear pieces, whether sunglasses, spectacles, or purely for enhancement and adornment, exhale opulence and boast functionality.
This precious practicality extends to the handbags, with Silvia Venturini Fendi, artistic director of accessories and menswear, introducing a series of bespoke Baguette bags. Mirroring the diversity of clothing materials, from mink-lined supple crocodile to fringed and fluid embroideries, these bags become sumptuous, personal objects ranging from Nano to Large. The catwalk witnesses the debut of the Fendi Gems Baguette bags, exemplifying intense craftsmanship and precious materials. A Mini Baguette bag, adorned with hardware in 18k white gold and a white diamond-pave-encrusted buckle, showcases platinum leaf applied to crocodile leather, epitomising a fusion of luxury and artistry.
Echoing the collection’s essence of ‘precision and emotion’, a soundtrack by renowned composer, Max Richter–a creative partner of Kim Jones–accompanies the show as models strut the runway.
