Fendi Couture Fall 2021
Can a couture show spawn an “It” shoe? Kim Jones hit on a winning idea by transposing the arched loggia of Fendi’s imposing Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana into a nifty wedge heel that is eye-catching, but also feels like it’s been part of the brand since forever.
“Just looking at Rome, there’s so much to be inspired by,” he marveled over Zoom.
Adept at sinking himself into brand lore and surfacing the right details and ideas, the British designer tuned into the Baroque Italian-ness of Fendi more convincingly with this sophomore couture effort, long on dazzling and delicate workmanship and mostly nonlinear references to Rome. These were triply refracted: By Jones, who is English; by filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini, whose poetry figured as a key inspiration this season, and then in turn by Luca Guadagnino, who stitched everything together in a dreamy, 12-minute film.
It had the likes of Kate Moss, Christy Turlington, Mariacarla Boscono, Adut Akech and Amber Valletta gliding in slow-motion through an Escher-like set of stuccoed portals and staircases, everything kissed with a golden-hour glow.
“Ancient Rome, medieval Rome and modern Rome at the same time,” was how Jones summed up Pasolini’s writings, which was echoed in his approach to the collection: “You look at the past, then you also bring in techniques from the present.”
