“It all started with Delfina. There’s a chicness but a perversity to the way she twists FENDI, which is what I love” Kim Jones
This season Kim Jones draws direct inspiration from Delfina Delettrez Fendi, it is all about the way she wears FENDI archive with her own sense of self-expression. Let’s say it is about the disturbance of ladylike sophistication. The illusion of insouciance which has been elegantly constructed with pieces designed to be worn in different ways.
Feminine forms are cut out of masculine tailoring while using elements from utilitarianism like boilersuits, aprons, uniforms meanwhile there is lacquered lace layered with flashes of fetishism, think thigh high lace-up boots. A clean-cut mac shows a flash of its sequined lining; a Persian lamb bib appears with harnessed straps.
Punk is in the air with cleanly slashed or gently warped knitwear. Felted wools are slightly shrunken, ribbed knits are left unbuttoned or worn askew. Scarves romantically trail satin dresses. “It’s deconstructed, but luxurious. There’s a little nod to punk, and my admiration for DIY, but moved on towards something chic,” explains Kim Jones.
A nod to Karl Lagerfeld’s 1981 sketches for multipurpose knitwear gives a bit of history of the house but reflected on anew.
The FENDI Multi, has Silvia Venturini Fendi paying homage to the multipurpose sensibility with the new handbag. “I think what is really nice is the movement of the bag, that it can be two things in one,” Silvia Venturini Fendi says. “That duality is very FENDI – as is the idea of something which appears simple but, in reality, is very complex” It is the same spirit which is echoed in the jewellery designed by Delfina Delettrez Fendi. “I wanted to explore the purity of the double F, locking on the ear, ” Delfina explains. “Like the collection, it goes to the very essence of FENDI.”
