Fendi, Kim Jones' homage to Rome

Clouds of incense at the bottom of the industrial catwalk, wound by a beam of light, introduce a sacred couture, an haute couture with a spiritual scent that has its roots in the city of Rome. A tribute to the eternal city and its historical and aesthetic baggage. The first physical show for Fendi couture by Kim Jones comes to life in the halls of Palais Brogniart, dressed by a giant metal installation creating an ancient perspective arcade with futuristic neon-lit profiles, with a large ascetic globe that dominates the vault, decorated with stucco and frescoes. «The eternity of Rome, its spirituality and sacredness. When you walk through the streets of this city, you are constantly poised in time, between past and present», the British designer, artistic director of couture and womenswear for the Italian fashion label, a satellite of the Lvmh group, explained.

«Where I work, it all seems so modern, but before you get there (to the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, namely the Square Colosseum in the Eur district, the Maison’s headquarters, ed.) the street is dotted with monuments. In this city you experience a sense of total timelessness: a historical streak runs through it, but you can also perceive a tension that projects it into the future». The priestesses of the brand parade wearing sandals with ghostly heels. Vestals of absolute magnificence. Deities standing out with their slender silhouettes. Ancestral statues and madonnas painted on dark velvet. Wearing severe and monastic dresses, peplos of neoclassical influence, simple robes and austere tunics. Flaunting elaborate papal embroidery. Wearing damasks recalling noble palaces. Bringing to the stage absolute white and deep black, alternated with flashes of cardinal red. Shouting a sumptuously regal elegance, amidst trains, plumage and elaborate embroideries. Preaching an elegance that explores a deep chasm of primary, ancestral blue.

«Rome emanates a certain spirituality, which is not necessarily religious», the designer added. For this collection, he also worked with Silvia Venturini Fendi, Creative Director for accessories and menswear, and with Delfina Delettrez, artistic director for jewelry. «It narrates a holiness rooted in the evolutionary layers of its history». A story brought to the stage by angelic Amazons, with their faces covered with a glitter of crystals and with their lobe decorated with a halo of precious stones.

Judgment. «My mission for Fendi is to celebrate women’s power», Kim Jones stated. In this couture collection with Fendi, he distanced himself from the stellar casting to which he had accustomed his public, especially in the videos of the last two seasons, he transformed. He put the emphasis on clothes and silhouettes, which were created in the atelier and embroidered opulently to lead the Maison into a darker and more nocturnal universe than in the past. In a SS 2022 enhancing the very essence of haute couture, amidst absolute holiness and unattainable elegance. (All rights reserved)