TheFirsT Family oF FUr
With an 88-year-old legacy of unparalleled expertise in the craftsmanship of fur, Fendi is again turning the spotlight on the precious material
When I asked Silvia Venturini Fendi what it was like growing up in one of Europe’s most celebrated fashion families, her face softened and her eyes took on a faraway look. “Well, even as children, my sisters and I knew we were different. Whereas in winter our other classmates would arrive wearing grey woollen cardigans, we’d be sent to school dressed in miniature fur coats, from our latest collection, complete with matching fur trimmed boots and hoods!” she said, laughing softly at the memory. “Sometimes, we even had entire meals served on our dining table in the colours of the collection of the season!”
Fendi is sipping coffee early morning in a private room at the Grand Hyatt in Tokyo’s fashionable Ginza area. The previous evening she had attended the opening of Fendi’s iconic exhibition
Un Art Autre (Another Kind of Art), where in the company of some of Japan’s most respected art cognoscenti, 24 of the fashion and luxury brand’s most celebrated creations in fur from 1970 and 2013 had been showcased.
In many ways, it was a declaration of Fendi’s formidable association with fur and its determination to connect with its roots. A measure of the gravitas with which Fendi regards fur was the fact that the exhibition was held at Tokyo’s prestigious art school—the Tokyo University of the Arts. An indication of the seminal relationship the fashion house shares with the material was evident in the impromptu and almost anonymous way the chairman of LVMH, the world’s premier luxury brand (and Fendi’s holding company), the legendary Bernard Arnault himself flew down with 20 of his group’s top executives for a private viewing before the show’s formal opening.
“Fur is one of the most luxurious and precious materials in the world, at the same time primeval and sensual,” says Sylvia Fendi. “And like in the case of jewellery, those wanting to buy it must seek out the experts, people they can trust, and people with unquestionable expertise in the field. Fendi’s mastery in fur is incomparable.”
“Fendi’s roots are in fur,” says Pietro Beccari, chairman and CEO of Fendi, to me when I meet him a day before the exhibition. “And so when I took over the company, I thought to myself, what could be more important than to go back to our roots, the skills and expertise by which we are known? And the area in which we have had undisputed leadership?” says the dashing Italian (a dead ringer for the younger Richard Gere), who in his previous role as executive vice-president of communications and marketing, Louis Vuitton, had been credited with re-establishing the brand’s deep links with travel and glamour to great success.
Was he attempting to do the same with Fendi and fur now? “Fur processing is not only one of our strong specialty crafts,” he replies, “but it is also an artistic expression that embodies the most current aspects of our pursuit, which, as always, aligns innovation with tradition,” he says re-iterating Fendi’s most cherished value.
But first a bit of history: It was way back in 1925 when a young Roman couple, Edoardo and Adele Fendi, opened a leather and fur workshop in Rome that soon came to be known for its commitment to quality and style. By the time their five daughters— Paola, Anna, Franca, Carla, and Alda— came on the scene, the store had grown into a formidable fashion house with outposts around the world and an enviable reputation. In 1965, when Karl Lagerfeld joined Fendi, the transformation of furs continued. Lagerfeld revolutionised the traditional image of furs, until then regarded more for their legendary status than their fashion. Under him, the concept of fur went from weighty and stiff, to light, soft, comfortable, and easy-to-wear garments, worked and treated like any other clothing. Techniques l ike tanning, dyeing, interweaving, and inlay became the hallmarks of Fendi’s craftsmanship.
More breakthroughs occurred in the eighties: Furs were coloured like the artwork of Florentine impressionist paintings; asymmetric shapes were invented, achieving hitherto unthought-of lightness. In 1989, there came an epiphany—reversible grained leather fur without lining, that liberated it even further!
The label’s extraordinary quest with, and fascination for, newer ways to present fur’s beauty accelerated in the ’90s, which saw it being combined with other precious materials like silk, cashmere, and wool. This
was only a precursor to its revolutionary, out-of-the-box juxtapositioning in the new millennium—fur used with plastic and fur used with 24-karat gold!
This unparalleled genius of Fendi’s dexterity with fur was amply displayed in the exhibition’s sections, ANATOMY and COLOR, in which 12 garments revisited traditional manufacturing solutions and experimental techniques. Like Eskimo, the geometrically patterned silk-screen printing introduced in the ’70s; the ancient ‘gheronatura a V’ technique bequeathed minks (as in Fendi’s memorable 1971 Astuccio hood) their continuous geometric pattern. There was also the Labyrinth motif, which in 1979 launched the brand’s unbeatable reversible fur concept.
And almost as if as a playful counterpoint to this weighty presentation of its craft, the exhibition also evoked Fendi’s revolutionary and innovative approach to the material: Fur for cocktail and evening dresses, as in the 1997 Piazza di Spagna kimono, where fur was applied on tulle; the progressive dismantling of fur and its lightening in the 1986-87 Drappeggio collection. In 19992000, it was combined with leather and metallic paint, while almost a decade later, mink was paired with 24-karat gold! It all culminated in a great explosion of creativity in SS 2013, with the Big Bang series, a revolutionary and masterful innovation.
“We take fur very seriously, and at the same time, with a lot of lightness and creativity,” said Sylvia when I asked her about fur’s detractors. “We have even created fashion in fake fur. Do not be dogmatic about it, we say, but appreciate its beauty, luxury, and place in history. Respect it. Play with it. Embrace it,” she says, adding that one of the most sensuous experiences she knows is to sleep under a fur blanket.
“Fendi fur is not just an object of pure iconic glamour. It has not only introduced new aesthetic canons, but has contributed to the overturning of the conventional uses of the luxurious material, suggesting new ways and reasons to wear fur,” said the exhibition’s noted curator Emanuelo Nobile Milano, whom I met the day before. “Since 1925, Fendi has imprinted its image on to the art of fur. And in 1965, when Karl Lagerfeld placed the word fun right next to the word fur in order to create a harmonious double logo, Fendi’s expertise and supremacy was sealed,” said the stylish art maven.
So there it is, Fendi’s great romance with fur. A look at the past and the future. History and heritage. Fashion and fun. Marking another milestone in Fendi’s fascinating trajectory. “Today, it seems like the time has come to re-celebrate the commitment, seriousness, and constant creativity and professionalism that historically distinguish Fendi’s operations in this particular area of fashion,” said Beccari.