The public face of Fendi - ‘The Brain’
Carla Fendi reflected: ‘‘My father always said, ‘Remember that the Fendi name will be famous because it’s short, musical, and can be easily pronounced in all languages around the world’.’’
No doubt there was some truth in that, but it was the talent, vision and drive of Carla and her four sisters that transformed their parents’ small leatherworking business into a fashion powerhouse.
‘‘Fendi is a matriarchy,’’ she said. ‘‘Our husbands have always put us out front.’’
Yet of the quintet, Carla was the only one comfortable in the limelight and she became the public face of the business, as well as taking charge of its image and press relations.
With her saddle-hide tan, foxred coiffure and air of command, she could seem at first glance just another of Rome’s pampered rich, but not for nothing was she known in the family as ‘‘The Brain’’.
Kind, but shrewd, and with a rigorous eye for detail, she played a vital role in establishing the desirability of Fendi’s products, not just in Italy, but around the world.
The sisters began to help their mother with the business after their father’s death in 1954. But although before the war Fendi had garnered a well-heeled clientele for its suitcases and handbags, it did not become a significant force in the industry until the mid-60s.
The key factors were its opening then of a large shop near the Spanish Steps in Rome, the creation of its double F logo and the hiring of a new designer.
None of the sisters could draw and for years they depended on stylists, all of whom they found unsatisfactory. Then in 1965 a friend of Carla introduced them to the young Karl Lagerfeld. It was he who made Fendi’s name more widely known, though not with leather but with a sideline of theirs - fur.
Lagerfeld turned a heavy, rigid material, epitomising wealth and staid respectability, into a light one of fun and fashion, using exotic pelts and outre colours, such as apricot.
Film stars Catherine Deneuve and Laura Antonelli lent Fendi’s furs glamour, as did work for directors such as Luchino Visconti, Franco Zeffirelli and Federico Fellini. (In 1997 the antifur charity Peta severed its ties with Naomi Campbell after she modelled a sable coat at a Fendi show.)
It was Carla, however, who appreciated that the company needed to crack the US market if it was to realise its ambitions. ‘‘The top of the pyramid was America,’’ she said.
In the late 1960s, she faced opposition to the strategy from within the family and from fashion journalist friends. At first their doubts appeared valid when the new-style furs attracted little interest from Manhattan’s traditionally minded department stores.
With the help of a friend, she finally found window space at Henri Bendel. The display became a sensation and almost overnight made Fendi a transatlantic byword for luxury.
During the next two decades, Carla (and Lagerfeld) presided over a steady expansion into accessories such as scarves, ties, gloves and sunglasses.
In 1994, Carla succeeded her eldest sister, Paola, as group president. Several years later, the business’s fortunes received a huge boost with the success of its ‘‘baguette’’ bag, created by Carla’s niece Silvia. Slung across the body, its light weight and capaciousness appealed to working women, and Fendi sold more than a million.
By then Carla had appreciated that outside investment was needed if Fendi was to remain competitive in a global market that necessitated opening many new stores.
Industry gossip had it that there were tensions between the sisters, with Fendi said to be neither especially profitable nor well-run. Yet in 2000, LVMH and Prada paid the family US$450 million for half of the shares, with the former eventually buying up all the business.
‘‘Five sisters was too much,’’ said Lagerfeld at the time. ‘‘And they were not speaking. The husbands were all happy when they sold.’’
Carla Fendi was born in Rome in 1937. Her mother, Adele, had been orphaned young and taken in by an aunt in Florence from whom she learnt leatherworking. In 1925 she and her fiance Edoardo, whose mother had been a lady-in-waiting at the court of Savoy in Turin, set up a shop in Italy’s capital. They were to have five daughters in nine years, Carla being the fourth.
The girls slept amid handbags and were put down for naps in lace-lined drawers. Their upbringing was strict and they soon learnt that when their mother bit her own hand it was because she wanted to cuff one of them.
After pursuing classical studies at school, Carla joined her sisters - Paola, Anna, Franca and later Alda - in the business. ‘‘You are five fingers of the same hand,’’ her mother would say. ‘‘Each of you has its own role.’’
As children, they were taken regularly to the studio of a sculptor, Mirko Basaldella, an experience that gave Carla a lifelong love of art.
Although she became honorary president for life of the company in 2008, by then she and her sisters played little part in its operations. This freed her to concentrate on her foundation, which conserves Italy’s cultural heritage. Although it was Fendi that paid for the recent restoration of the Trevi fountain, she was its inspiration.
Latterly, she and her husband had lived chiefly in an apartment in a 16th-century palazzo in central Rome. This housed her collection, which included works by Matisse, Lucio Fontana and Giorgio Morandi.
‘‘As soon as something extraordinary - be it a painting, a work of ceramic, or glass - catches my eye,’’ she admitted, ‘‘there is no escape: the object must be mine.’’
She shared her love of art with her husband, Candido Speroni, a former pharmacist, whom she married in 1960. Friends attributed the recent decline in her health to his death in 2013. They had no children, but reigned over one of the liveliest salons in Italy.
He thought the secret of their marriage was his lack of jealousy of her prominence, perhaps unusual in an Italian man. ‘‘I never resented having a more famous wife,’’ he remarked. ‘‘In fact, she makes me proud.’’
The Times, London