On Wednesday night, FENDI’s Creative Director Silvia Venturini Fendi presented the brand’s final women’s collection, featuring elegant clothing with a harmonious atmosphere. After the introduction, I believe everyone can see the power of Silvia Fendi from different details – by the way, even Kim Jones, who was in the front row last night, was photographed as if the fashion show had completely “captured his soul.” This show is the brand’s first official combined men’s and women’s fashion show, and since Kim Jones took over, Silvia Fendi has officially taken charge of the men’s collection. What surprises did the men’s collection bring to the dazzling #FendiSS21 collection?
This season, the merging of men’s and women’s wear was undoubtedly the design catalyst for Silvia Fendi’s collection. It’s not just about “blurring” the lines between the sexes, but rather Silvia Fendi boldly and directly allows the cuts and styling often seen in women’s clothing to be worn by men. Even with the use of male models with strong masculinity, the outfits and pairings do not seem out of place; it’s just that Look 42’s crop top leather suit still needs time to adjust.
Apart from men trying out gender-neutral dressing styles, overall, the most surprising thing is Silvia Fendi’s complete transformation of the casual atmosphere for the spring/summer season. Silvia Fendi mentioned after the show that linen is a key fabric this season, and the SS21 collection starts from this ancient fabric, changing the traditional Italian concept of using it only for wedding dresses. What’s more important is that Silvia Fendi specifically mentioned that former FENDI creative director, the “old master” Karl Lagerfeld, was also a huge fan of linen, even revealing that he loved using linen bedsheets and had an unimaginable collection at home.
Why do Italians prefer linen as wedding fabric? How does this rougher fabric attract Silvia Fendi’s choice? In fact, linen has appeared as early as ancient Egypt, even though Egypt was rich in cotton, linen was still widely worn locally; the reason is simple, because in ancient Egyptian history, people believed that linen was the fabric worn by the gods, even the legendary Egyptian queen Cleopatra could only wear top silk, not linen, showing the historical value of linen.
Linen is an annual herbaceous plant and the oldest textile fiber in the world. Its characteristics include fast water absorption, high resistance to friction and heat, strong antibacterial properties, and high fiber strength, making it a popular choice for various home textile products. One of linen’s unique features is that it creates a capillary effect when in contact with the skin, giving a sensation of extending the skin. Easy to grow and biodegradable, linen is considered the most suitable fabric for the current sustainable fashion industry. When linen fabric is in the hands of Silvia Fendi, it is upgraded and transformed with FENDI’s craftsmanship, featuring loose cuts embellished with floral patterns, FENDI brand totems, and embroidered designs. The linen fabric seen at the exhibition is undyed, as Silvia Fendi insists on preserving its unique and original craftsmanship details.
Just from this detail, it can be seen that Silvia Fendi has always been creating things for FENDI in line with showcasing the brand’s history and spirit, presenting various levels of progress for the family and brand. Next, let’s look forward to Kim Jones’ performance. To be honest, I’m really looking forward to it.
