Maria Grazia Chiuri’s Fendi is here. After much anticipation, the Roman designer made her debut at the Italian fashion house today (February 25), with a show held at the brand’s Milan headquarters on Via Solari. Chiuri was announced as Fendi’s new creative director last October, following the departure of Silvia Venturini Fendi, and joined the brand after a nine-year stint at Dior, where she was replaced by Jonathan Anderson.
In the days before today’s show, Chiuri caused quite the commotion online – sparking a debate over the first glimpse of her Fendi vision. Yesterday, the brand released a teaser image showing a close-up of a man’s hands firmly holding a model’s ankles while she stood on a chair. It’s based on a similar image taken by Jo Ann Callis, which the American photographer recreated for Fendi.
On social media, the fashion crowd was quick to point out Chiuri’s erotic new direction at Fendi. The reaction was mixed: some people argued that that image could be seen as disempowering, others compared it to Tom Ford’s 00s Gucci campaigns, and some made the valid point that Callis is known for her explorations of womanhood, motherhood, restriction and domestic tension. But was the show itself as sexy as predicted? Here’s what went down…
As an Italian fashion house showing during Milan Fashion Week, if you could pick anyone to sit front row at your show, it would likely be silver screen icon Monica Bellucci. In keeping with the theme of the collection, Bellucci’s most famous role is arguably Malèna, in which she plays a war widow who becomes the subject of intense sexual desire. Next to her sat Uma Thurman – acting royalty in her own right, who also dipped her toe into the world of kink with a small role in Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac. Elsewhere, we spotted Dakota Fanning, Stray Kids’ Bang Chan and Chinese actress Tiffany Tang.
Fendi has a reputation for vibrant colours and rich materials, as evidenced by its 100-year history, but this season seemed to suggest Chiuri wanted to strip this all back. Yes, there was the suggestive teaser image by Callis, all tanned skin and shiny leather pumps, but then we also caught a glimpse of the show space and this all but confirmed our suspicions. Rather than the detailed sets we’re used to seeing, AW26 was practically an industrial concrete box, with exposed Edison lights hanging from the ceiling and the phrase ‘Less I, more us’ in huge black letters on the floor. So far, all signs pointed to a stripped-back and sexier rendering of Fendi.
Clearly, Chiuri has been spending a lot of time at the cinema lately. In the past two years, we’ve seen a wave of movies that include elements of BDSM. Unlike the Dazed team, perhaps the designer loved Wuthering Heights, or felt inspired by Alexander Skarsgård’s performance in Pillion (one leather moto jacket would suggest so). Perhaps it was Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson in 2024’s Babygirl that set Chiuri’s imagination alight. Although it wasn’t overt, there was a sexually inquisitive undercurrent to her Fendi debut. It might have been light on the BDSM, but it was heavy on the leather, lace and chokers.
The opening look was a demure black button-up day dress, shrouded by a loose suit jacket and paired with glossy stiletto heels. Black remained the main shade throughout, but was occasionally punctuated with crimson, ivory, gold and tiger print. Chiuri stayed true to the spaghetti straps and transparent tulle that were a signature of her Dior era, but added new flourishes like leather chokers and floating white collars. There were a lot of suits – mostly traditional and all black – telling us that the Fendi woman is a city girl who likely works in a high-rise and loves binging Industry. She might also enjoy the 2002 film Secretary.
Occasionally, a pair of platformed heels with perspex soles would appear, not dissimilar to the shape of pole dancing heels. There were laser-cut leather dresses, see-through lace dresses, slinky hooded dresses – basically, a black dress for every occasion. As well as collars, which are often used as a symbol of submission in BDSM relationships, some models wore silver dog tag necklaces. Though it wasn’t a collection that came with a message as clear as “We Should All Be Feminists”, did this collection, in its own subtle way, suggest that we should all be fetishists?
In notes mailed out after the show, Chiuri revealed her inspirations for this new era of Fendi, confirming what we’d gleaned from the collection. “There is a fundamental element: the return to desire and to bodies… at a time in which less and less attention is being paid to the more earthly and original impulses of those bodies,” it read. The notes then went on to suggest how clothing can be used to communicate those desires, “not to control them but to accommodate them, go along with them, make them visible.”
Elsewhere, Chiuri noted that this season’s jewellery was a collaboration with Italian sculptor Mirella Bentivoglio, while she also teamed up with artist SAGG Napoli for the collection’s graphic tees and slogan football scarves. As the name of the show – Less I, More Us – suggests, Chiuri’s tenure at Fendi will be a collaborative effort, for women and led by women.
