Fendi’s Return to Splendour
Cloaked in nostalgic references to the brand’s collections past, Fendi’s Fall/Winter 2022 Collection is a flight back to a time of elegance, sophistication and charm.
ANY CONTEMPLATION OF FASHION now is akin to strapping on one of those augmented reality goggles that filter out the realities of life: frantic, gratuitous travel as borders reopen (has Covid-19 taught us nothing?); global warming; the Russia-Ukraine war; microplastics pollution; the crypto freefall. Just one look at fashion makes all that go away.
Such has always been part of fashion’s appeal – its escapist tendencies. If you’re studying a fluttery silk hem from the 1980s, or a handbag from the noughties which seems to be winking at you, then you’re in the safe zone of the past, when life seemed stable, solid, and charmed.
With its Fall/Winter 2022 collection, Fendi takes us on a flight back to splendour, with a wealth of nostalgic references from its long legacy. Kim Jones, the English artistic director of women’s and couture, who took over from Karl Lagerfeld (in 2020) upon his passing, has taken inspiration from two of Lagerfeld’s iconic collections (there are many, considering how he was the designer for Fendi since 1965).
Jones reworks the geometric print and hues from 1986 (a delicious combination of mint green, salmon and brick orange stands out), the year that Lagerfeld based a Fendi collection around the colours and geometric forms of Memphis Milano – a design group founded by Ettore Sottsass in 1980 that he was obsessed with at the time. That collection was memorable for its chiffon and silk prints, with sensuously billowing blouses and dresses.
In another dip into the past, Lagerfeld’s Spring 2020 Fendi collection was brought back from the archives, fluttering to life in all its delicate lingerie details. Sheer, diaphanous gathered slips, wriggling with seams and baby-doll ruffles, a couple of corset tops, and fluffy bits and bobs hark back to a more carefree era. But Jones finely balances this visual lightness with tweedy, masculine tailoring, which is his area of expertise: The sharp tailoring – he was menswear-trained – turned out narrow, sexy coats, cropped jackets, classic pants, a belted apron in new fabrics such as repurposed wool and shaved shearling. All the floating girlishness is tempered with a tough, urban masculinity that recalls a time when genders were limited in number.
Most reassuring of all is to see Lagerfeld’s work brought back into focus in defining the Fendi story, and the story of fashion. This tribute collection is also notable for being Jones’s defining ready-to-wear statement for Fendi, and it finds a new equilibrium for the luxury fashion label, a workable formula for future collections.
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Why reinvent the handbag wheel? As in its ready-to-wear collection, Fendi’s accessories focus this season is on the Peekaboo bag, which became an instant classic when it was first launched in 2008.
Designed by Silvia Venturini-Fendi (the granddaughter of Fendi’s founders), the artistic director of accessories and menswear, the Peekaboo is the essential Fendi product, perfectly embodying the brand’s artisanal tradition and creativity.
Its name pays humorous homage to the half-and-half architectural construction of the bag: Venturini Fendi designed the bag with a rigid divider in the middle that creates a front flap that falls open to reveal the artistry inside. It’s a witty way to display the luxurious materials the brand uses inside the bag, which varies inventively from season to season.
Featuring a twist-lock closing on both front and back, the Peekaboo has an inner zip pocket and gold-finish hardware, and can either be carried by hand, worn on the shoulder or as a cross-body.
“It was the moment to set things straight with a new classic. I wanted to evoke the beauty of a vintage bag with a lock, but for the first time make it about the movement of the bag”, says Venturini Fendi. On the runway, this season’s Peekaboo is updated with the new colours and textures of the collection, and the elevated workmanship showcases Fendi’s Italian craft traditions.
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