Maria Grazia Chiuri, who kicked off her Dior era with the slogan “We should all be feminists,” had a new motto at the ready Wednesday for her Fendi debut in Milan: “Less I, more us.”
Her coed show also mostly dispensed with the pronouns his and hers.
“A shared wardrobe,” Chiuri said amid the backstage hubbub. “The idea was to work on the collection with the same team for men and women because the idea is that we do a coat, we do a jacket, we do pants. We change the size, but it’s the same — a transversal wardrobe.…My idea is to make the jacket that everyone desires.”
So those were Chiuri’s big ideas. How were the clothes?
On the whole, this was a crowd-pleaser of a collection, shy on fashion thrills but strong on realistic, approachable and well-crafted classics — and without the luxury overload you sometimes felt from the Roman house.
Much of the collection was black, which you could read as sober and soigné, or safe and salable. Chiuri also dipped into denim, military and bohemian themes, sending a message that her Fendi is not necessarily about what “she” imposes, but what “they” might want.
There were a handful of offbeat propositions, including folkloric, fur-trimmed vests, an Army green flight suit and a beat-up motocross jacket, even if it was in a yellow and black colorway.
Still, you can count on Chiuri to turn out handsome tailored jackets and woolen coats, pleated skirts, delicate lace cocktail dresses and timeless evening columns, here in panne velvet with vague 1920s airs.
Little white leather collars — worn like a choker with everything from suits to evening dresses — felt like a wink to the late, great Karl Lagerfeld, who headed Fendi’s fur and ready-to-wear for more than 50 years, while cross straps as closures on jackets felt like a nod to Kim Jones, Chiuri’s menswear counterpart at Dior and Fendi’s previous womenswear designer.
Meanwhile, the five founding Fendi sisters were immortalized in furry intarsia football scarves, which also came with phrases by Italian artist Sagg Napoli, such as “Rooted but not stuck.” Continuing a dialogue with female artists she struck up while at Dior, Chiuri also worked with the estate of Italian sculptor and poet Mirella Bentivoglio for jewelry and graphic T-shirts.
Overall, the accessories were as straightforward and familiar as the clothes, including a bevy of heavily embellished Baguette bags, which came out shortly after Chiuri first joined Fendi in 1989 at age 24, moving over to Valentino a decade later, and Dior in 2016.
Fur made several appearances — as tippets, collars and patchwork coats — but Fendi clarified they were all remodeled from existing skins. Outside, anti-fur protesters hollered at exiting guests through megaphones, as they did at Diesel on Tuesday.
Chiuri’s was the first of several big debuts this Milan Fashion Week, and the vast runway venue heaved with LVMH brass, celebrities and all the top retailers and editors.
“It’s really exciting to start a new project,” Chiuri enthused backstage. “I want to celebrate all the heritage and also the values of this brand where I learned so much, because working with the five sisters was really a big school, not only for me, for many designers. They taught me to work in a team, to collaborate, to be innovative while maintaining tradition. Those are the elements of our work here.”
It’ll be interesting to see how Chiuri’s us-generation approach evolves.