FENDI AND VERSACE JOIN FORCES IN MILAN TO INTERPRET EACH OTHER’S BRANDS
In an unprecedented move for both historic houses, Fendi and Versace presented a collaborative capsule and presentation to bring Milan Fashion Week to an exciting close Sunday night.
Don’t call it a collaboration, though. Just like last season’s collaborative-non-collaboration between Gucci and Balenciaga, these two legendary Italian houses are calling this project a “coming together” of Fendi and Versace – a collection Donatella and Kim have lovingly dubbed “Fendace.”
Meant to serve as a celebration of Italian fashion and a to-hell-with-it disruption of the established order of things, Fendace is Fashion with a capital F – and a capital V. Together they stand for Freedom, Fun, and Virtuosity, according to the two brands.
“Friends, idols, mentors… It’s the beauty of togetherness,” remarked Kim Jones, artistic director of Fendi Couture and Womenswear.
Donatella Versace, chief creative officer Versace, added: “It’s a first in the history of fashion: Two designers having a true creative dialogue that stems from respect and friendship. It led to us swapping roles to create these two collections.”
And swap roles they did. The collection crosses the ‘party lines’ of luxury conglomerates – inspired purely by friendship and mutual professional respect. For the first time, Donatella Versace and Silvia Venturini Fendi have stepped away from their respective family houses to be inspired by the other’s vision, while Kim Jones – by now an old hand at inhabiting and reinventing other peoples’ houses – points the way.
The collaboration itself is divided into two collections – Versace By Fendi and Fendi By Versace. Here, Jones and Venturini-Fendi take on the design of women’s and menswear respectively, displaying their exceptional vision of Versace while Versace takes on the design of all, displaying her inimitable interpretation of Fendi. With the archives fully opened to both, a unique cross-fertilization occurs, with elements transposed from each house; at heart remains a deep admiration for the codes and cultures of both, together with a mutual encouragement for the designers to be themselves. Needless to say, the results could only be achieved with fundamental respect and reciprocal trust. Ultimately, Fendace is about the need for sincerity in fashion today rather than strategy.
Inspired by the mid-to-late nineties period of the storied house, Versace By Fendi explores an idea of duality, most pointedly seen in a melding of the Fendi Monogram with the Versace Greek Key motif. Here, garments metamorphose, many revealed to be reversible with hidden codes and the exquisite craftsmanship of the Fendi atelier on display, such as in chainmail made in leather. Here a multigenerational approach is embraced throughout.
Fendi By Versace takes a more punk rock stance with Donatella Versace declaring contamination and disruption to be key. Versace safety pins proliferate, puncturing Fendi signs and symbols. Chain mail is married with lace and crystal-encrusted F’s in an interpretation of the monogram. While silk faille mimics denim and shearlings are shaved, making the world of Fendi that little bit more youthfully rebellious.
