Tonight in Florence, Fendi threw the doors of its brand new factory and invited Pitti attendees a glimpse of the inner-workings of the fashion house. As the fashion pack piled into the slick, freshly painted space, the wildly talented people who bring Silvia Venturini Fendi and Kim Jones’ ideas to life pottered around cutting pattern pieces, hammering rivets, and feeding buttery-soft mega-expensive patches of leather through sewing machines.
The season’s collection offered an explanation as to why. Silvia had clearly been looking in the direction of her army of workers for inspiration for SS24, with the first few looks out of the gate including sleek leather aprons and little utility belts in shades of luxe Fendi camel and deep navy. Oversized, knee-grazing painters shirts were layered over louche trousers, while the sleeves of knitted sweaters were swung around the body, transforming them into sexy little halter-neck tops – which, by the way, are so far seeming pretty hot for the coming months, if Anthony Vaccarello’s slinky offering for Saint Laurent is also anything to go by.
Elsewhere, Crocs’ chokehold on luxury fashion shows no sign of loosening its grip. The polarising ugly shoe can now count Fendi as a new fan, with models storming round the catwalk in shiny new green and tan iterations.
It wasn’t just the Fendi factory floor that Silvia pillaged though. She’d seemingly also been taking notes in boardroom meetings, too. Boxy bouclé car costs were layered over classic officewear, as models wearing crisp shirts, loose ties, and FF-monogrammed briefcases all made laps of the runway, coffee cups in hand. There was even a Fendi-branded cup holder ideal for when it’s your turn to do the 3pm latte run.
Best of all, however, was the fully-equipped Fendi tool belt, complete with screwdrivers, hammers, wrenches, and more toolbox essentials I sadly do not know the name of xo. It was a little bit sexy and a little bit seedy, and utterly sleek layered over a loose little pair of shorts – ideal for us silly fashion people to play make-believe we have a real, important job.
