Fendi SS15

Initial reaction:

We might have been ensconced in a replica of the Palazzo della Civiltà, the stark Fascist-era icon known as the Square Colosseum, but the clothes we saw were anything but severe. The orchid motif carried over from last season and was worked into prints, hair accessories, and leather jackets that bore the flower in intricate cut work. Cut was the operative word, as leather that faded into a patent finish was spliced with slits, and organza was cut up into feather shapes for a final passage of birds of paradise, in pastel dresses to accompany the exotic orchids. 

Fashion and architecture:

"If designers and architects conceive their work as a poet might conceive his poems, there will be a sensuous and emotional factor," said Karl Lagerfeld in the press notes. The set of the show – as well as a trio of photographs by Lagerfeld – celebrated the fact that Fendi's headquarters have just recently moved to the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana in Rome, officially opened in 1940. Save for the chiaroscuro patent-to-leather graduated pieces and graphic stripes worked into sheer skirts, the collection didn't necessarily directly correlate with Fendi's new digs, but the set and the photographs did serve to remind us of the brand's Roman roots. By taking over what was once an avant-garde piece of architecture, they put themselves on that same forward-thinking pedestal.

Stand out pieces:

Graphics that resembled Fernand Léger paintings were printed on to leather tops that had vertical slits running down the front. They were paired – in a surprisingly casual turn from Fendi – with denim jeans and peg-leg cropped trousers. Fendi's fur still managed to make a spring summer appearance, patchworked and arranged into strips, overlaid with plastic, clashing the natural with the synthetic.