For the last day of Milan menswear, Silvia Venturini Fendi went to work – literally. Here are the highlights from her officewear-inspired show. 

THE CATWALK 

While previous seasons have seen the show space transformed into a swimming pool or added a giant, fuzzy staircase, this season Fendi chose to go in a more simple direction. Enlisting set designer Sarah Balvio the SS18 space mimicked an office foyer with a white marble floor. The irony being that the show was held on the third floor of Fendi’s HQ. At the entrance there were two elevator doors that the models entered from, pacing up and down the black lines that made up the catwalk to the disco beats of Sister Sledge’s “Lost in Music”. 

THE ILLUSTRATIONS

One detail you might have missed in the collection were the seemingly mundane objects that appeared as recurring motifs on shirts, bags and as accessories on keychains. Created by artist Sue Tilley the illustrations included everyday items like lamps, telephones, teacups – even a corkscrew with a wine-covered cork. Backstage the moodboard revealed images of teacups, banana peels and photographs taken by Martin Parr, well known for his documentation style of photography. 

EXECUTIVE REALNESS

Backstage after the show Silvia Venturini Fendi explained the inspiration behind the collection’s executive motifs – as seen in ties and suit jackets reworked in a casual, more relaxed way. “You have young kids who are the head of start-ups and then become multi-billion companies in a few years, and so the attitude is changing and I think our life is changing,” Fendi explained. Fascinated with the idea of businessmen who dress casually in slippers and shorts when at home, but dress up in a suit and tie for work her businessmen wore jackets, trousers and ties complete with the Fendi FF logo. Ditching heavy materials traditionally used for suits, Fendi created jackets in gossamer-thin check fabric.