“The Dawn of Romanity”: Fendi haute couture pays tribute to Karl Lagerfeld against the backdrop of the Roman Forum
Fashion & Leather Goods
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© Fendi
Fendi presented its Fall/Winter 2019-2020 haute couture collection on the Palatine Hill in the heart of the Roman Forum, against the backdrop of Hadrian’s temple. The Maison conceived the show as a tribute to Karl Lagerfeld, its longtime Creative Director, with 54 silhouettes to represent his 54-year tenure at Fendi, the longest in the history of fashion.
Celebrating the ageless glory of Rome, the Fendi Fall/Winter 2019-2020 haute couture collection unfolded in a symphony of shifting impressions in the heart of an ephemeral Italian garden, punctuated by glints of the sunset on reflecting pools. The rigor of classical architecture engaged with nature’s own roots, structure and strata.
Pictorial decorations evoking the craft of marquetry are transposed on fabric and fur pieces, blurring the material lines of architecture with a palette of pastel shades. Yellow-orange citrine, jade green and rose quartz are joined by lighter mineral tones flecked with gold.
From ethereal coats and pencil skirts to palazzo blouses and pants, the collection explores the metamorphosis of marble, its essence as one of nature’s imperfect wonders, threaded with crystalline veins and otherworldly colors.
Archive sketches by Karl Lagerfeld inform the allure of the collection’s silhouettes. Meticulously selected by Silvia Venturini Fendi, Creative Director of the Maison, they serve as the starting point, defining the sweeping lines of the tailoring, the draping, tucked shoulders and graphic décolletés.
The memorable show was accompanied by a live performance by Italian composer Caterina Barbieri and culminated with a banquet in the midst of the Barberini vineyards, a stone’s throw from the Temple of Heliogabalus and the olives, pomegranates, figs, roses and lemon trees of the Palatine Hill.