Review of Fendi Fall 2022 Fashion Show
A Mesmerizing Juxtaposition Between The Hard And The Soft
By Lizzy Bowring
Suffice to say that there were a few green eyes over my covetable ticket to view the Fendi collection today. How fortunate am I? Arriving early somehow allows one that bit of time to take stock of the world around us – people-watching is what you might call it! Today, I did just that.
Set the scene – grey space – a modern, futuristic setting constructed with architecturally shaped arches in grey, with grey walls and a grey floor.
I mused about the link to the grey space. I had read somewhere it is a space for creativity, where radical relations emerge between people, art, digital culture, technology, and philosophy – a perfect setting devised by the clever crew @bureaubetak.
But back to the people watching – what a stark contrast to the avid Fendi followers of yore.
Here is definitively a new audience – our precious “Gen Z ers”; calm and confident consumers who know what they want,
and the collection that smartly stomped the grey floor offered them precisely that – Fendi’s most youthful and captivating collection to date.
The dynamic between Kim Jones and Silvia Venturi Fendi grows definitively. With this partnership, we see a new DNA for the house brand, yet not forgetting it is also built on the grounds of the old, yet viewed through a contemporary lens. Today we witnessed this ‘blurring and shaping of the boundaries’ by delving into the wealth of inspiration hidden in the Fendi archives. And to this editor – aaahhh! I remember it well! Here lies the future – the link to the grey-space.
This collection had strength and softness – a juxtaposition of the hard and the soft came to mind immediately and was overwhelmingly powerful.
Here perhaps,
the collection’s saving grace was the way each silhouette came styled,
the sharp tailoring and the innovative utility details in one and then allowing the feminine sheer little nothings to live elsewhere.
However, some of the aforesaid did not sit well – reminding me of some sleazy underground nightclub where girls smoked indiscreetly in corners.
This was not true for every slight silhouette that ethereally danced past me – the very nature of their delicacy speaking to the new generation that will snap them up to wear them through the night ( mothers beware, not for the shy these little whispers of dresses).
Kim Jones is a master tailor, and the precision in the sartorial cuts was as creative as it was innovative.
The intricate craftsmanship saw fabulous tailored jackets and coats, neatly skimming youthful bodies. The tweed jackets were cut to fit just so, cropped to define a slim waist or long and slim (as in look 9) with sleeves rolled, and collars turned nonchalantly but intentionally. Trousers, shorts, and skirts cut high, focused on the waist with half wraps neatly clasped with Fendi-esque utility clasps. Look 12, the long tailored slim skirt is already on my wish-list.
For all of the edgy youthfulness, Kim Jones and Silvia Venturi Fendi presented something extraordinary; in that audience today, there was something to be had for everyone, young or ‘slightly more mature,’ There is a lot to be said for grey-space.