Fendi deals in happiness and cheer. There’s no angst or politicising on Silvia Venturini Fendi and Karl Lagerfeld’s runway, it’s all fun and fluff and chic gorgeous girls. Sometimes it can veer into gimmicks, but the team had done well this season to trim away the cartoonish elements and emoji-esque details and go for something playful yet refined. A retro hourglass silhouette dominated - tight waists, full skirts. The palette was clean - navy, rust, camel. It felt in step with the menswear collection, which is onto a winner right now. It also gave us the best hair look of the season - graphic sea blue and algae green fringes by the great Sam McKnight.
Utterly bizarrely, the show notes stated that the collection 'emerges in a swirl of Caribbean color and flavor.' What timing - associating thousand euro furs and mini bars 'festooned with metallic pearls' with a place utterly decimated by hurricanes Irma and Maria. It’s a shame the brand made this communications faux pas, as the collection itself was strong and, quite frankly, didn’t seem to have much to do with the Caribbean save from the slightly oceanic palette. Instead, it spoke of the work of the Italian Futurists, and their firm lines, graphic shapes and bright poppy hues of artists like Giacomo Balla. The great Italian painter liked using his canvases to depict speed and movement - how appropriate for fashion and Fendi. Always on the move, always looking forward, always keeping pace. Fendi and Lagerfeld are in pursuit of something truly modern - something perfectly relevant to the Fendi shopper of today - and recently they’ve been narrowing in on the perfect recipe.
