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Fendi’s New Dimension

Fendi appeared to enter a new dimension this weekend, staging an impressive runway display in a mighty new industrial show space and presenting a collection whose graphic patterns, Memphis color palette and sound baffle convex finish suggested both fashionable depth of field and fresh sense of purpose for the label.

Before every fashion editor and critic of note in the industry, the Roman house unveiled its new south Milan via Solari space, replete with elongated liner gray and black décor, huge helium balls worthy of “The Prisoner,” twice the size of its previous Milan showroom, a former underground garage that had always seemed a weird setting for such a luxury brand.

A runway finished with lengthy arrows, matching those on the invitation already hinted at the well-spring of this hyper vibrant show, the Memphis movement of 70s Milan where Pop Art hued plastics, Formica and tubular metal ignited a new design vocabulary.

Fendi’s creative directors have rarely been more in synch: from Karl Lagerfeld’s zig zag print mink stoles and angular block printed leather swing coats to Silvia Fendi’s indented rubber high heels finished with armadillo layers of snakeskin.

“I didn’t realize until I finished the collection that it was very Memphis,” Lagerfeld admitted to FWD backstage.

The mood was heroic yet insouciant, dramatic but never far-fetched, a sweet vision of the future. Every edge had a contrasting color, pretty much every look a trompe d’oeil depth. The color palette recalled Memphis – two decades after Lagerfeld sold off his own collection, the first auction that showed the huge sums collectors would pay for designer provenance – though the colors were less glaring.

“It’s a renaissance fresco’s depth meets Anish Kapoor,” smiled Fendi, referring to the modern artist’s fetish with bright plastics. “It’s fashion in five dimensions; where the color contrasts and the depth field inlays are the new ones,” smiled Lagerfeld’s chic sounding board Amanda Harlech.

Moreover, this was the most commercial choice we have seen in many seasons from Fendi, a bellwether collection famed for its invention and hyper quality, though one where conception sometimes outweighed wearability.

The sharp bang of human sized balloon bursting, from behind which the first model appeared underlined Fendi’s new CEO Pietro Beccari determination to build Fendi into a mega global brand. As did signing a decade-long lease in the imposing show space for Fendi, the leading Italian brand in French luxury conglomerate LVMH.

Marquetry like fur coats and mega light crocodile blousons underlined the excellence of Fendi’s famed atelier, and the new management’s goal of recovering market share won by rival Italian brands like Prada and Marni in this century’s major boom in fashionable furs.

The next major step – revamping Fendi’s flagships in Paris, Milan and London. With three major openings next summer and fall, yet another Fendi dimension is in the works.

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