Never one to shy away from challenging the style status quo, creative director Karl Lagerfeld defied the summer, proposing a new seasonless wardrobe for his Fendi woman.
By Christopher Prince
We spotted summer furs on the runways of Oscar de la Renta and Rodarte during New York Fashion Week, and it’s a trend that has carried over into Milan and will no doubt pepper the shows in Paris. Fendi is a house renowned for its furs, originally starting out as a furrier in the 1920s and since reprising that role at last season’s Paris Haute Couture week with a 36-look collection crafted from the finest sables. And while this season didn’t feature quite as many fur looks, there was a definite nod to winter dressing courtesy of the house’s founder Silvia Venturini Fendi in collaboration with Karl Lagerfeld.
The concept from Lagerfeld was to defy eclectism which incidentally defied the codes of a spring/summer collection. An opening section of bloomer playsuits and jumpsuits in shades of bright coral served as the amuse-bouche to a procession of looks more attuned to colder climates. This was noticable in the show’s colour arc which journeyed from white to Lagerfeld’s signature black.
In place of fairytale fabrics like the feather and fringe of spring/summer 2015 the design duo looked to leather to create a standout bomber jacket in olive green alongside leather dresses finished with interlocking trims or treated with intricate pleats and webbing motifs.
And what would season-blurring dressing be without layering? Fendi offered two coat silhouettes, one finished in python, the other in lighweight raspberry cotton, each layered with knit rollneck sweaters.
