Dear Shaded Viewers,
Knowing what a globe trotter Kim Jones is, I cannot imagine what the lockdown must have been like for him. Sometimes when you look at couture collections you wonder if the client ever leaves their door before nightfall, not so at Fendi Couture by Kim Jones, this season opened with butterscotch slouchy menswear looks in vicuna that slipped over the body with great ease in the blindingly bright lights and stark setting of the Palais Brongniart. This luxury day wear was accented by romantic, cascading necklace made from white and yellow diamonds. The jewellery was designed by Delfina Delettrez Fendi, of course, this was the first Fendi high jewellery collection.
Since the theme of the season was “A tale of three cities – Kyoto, Rome and Paris” let’s start with what he took from Kyoto. Jones visited a storied maker of kimono silk and showed them a piece of a kimono fabric from the 18th century and asked if they could duplicate it. Kimono looms are very narrow so you will notice the artful patchwork with which he constructed his gowns. Kata Yuzen, a hand printing and painting technique dating back many hundred years, was utilised on the silk panels that were sliced and asymmetrically reformed in the floor length dresses. The cascading Acer palmatum leaves from the fabric design – named Ode to Autumn in the 1700s – find various forms throughout, particularly in the proliferation of delicate embroideries that reach a crescendo in the final tulle gowns of the collection.
From Paris, we see the glittering crystal cages in the spirit of Paris architecture. From Rome, the suiting in Vicuna, leather and fur work.
“This season, I wanted to step away from Rome, or at least I wanted to place Rome in a global context,” says Kim Jones, Artistic Director of Couture and Womenswear. “In this collection, we are looking at fragments of different cities, namely Kyoto, Paris and Rome. The fragmentary nature of things is echoed throughout the collection, like snatches of memory or the impression of things past, present and future.”
Later,
Diane
