September 9, 2025 |
Doing it from memory? That was Silvia Venturini Fendi’s approach to creating her epic centenary collection, which puts the Roman house’s incredible atelier at its heart. Rather than a deep archive dive, she conjured ‘Fendi-ness’ – the unique spirit of the house – from her memories of a lifetime spent in the atelier. For the designer, 64, who is artistic director of accessories and menswear collections, Fendi is in the blood. Her grandparents Edoardo Fendi and Adele Casagrande founded the house in 1925.
Silvia’s mother, Anna, was one of five sisters who, alongside their mother, took over the running of the company after their father’s death in 1954. Together, they appointed Karl Lagerfeld in 1965 and transformed Fendi from an artisan Roman house into an international luxury brand.
Silvia grew up at the house and with Lagerfeld. Her mother began taking her to the studio when she was a baby, and some of her earliest memories are of playing with fabric swatches and watching Lagerfeld work. In the early ’90s he invited her to join his design team, where under her watch the Baguette bag was born. Arguably the first It-bag, the Baguette became an icon and cemented the brand’s place in modern fashion history. She’s since gone on to add the Peekaboo, Mamma Baguette, By the Way and the distinctive First to the Fendi bag pantheon, all hand-crafted in exquisite materials. She talked to 10 about the brand then and now.
Rouguy wears FENDI, Spy bag by FENDI
It’s a daunting task to sum up a century of Fendi in one collection. How did you approach it?
I started from my feelings and emotions, considering I have also lived part of the Fendi history through the collections my mother and my aunts would wear. That is why I didn’t want to spend too much time dwelling on the physical archives. I wanted to express what Fendi-ness is. For me, the centenary is more about my personal memories, real or imagined, of what Fendi was and what it means today. I wanted the collection to represent what I lived, understanding the company as I understand it.
How did the show evolve? Tell us about the symbolism in the collection and the key references you wanted to make.
I am always playing with the classics and Italian traditions, but twisting them, turning things inside out, upside down. You will find tuxedo ‘Smoking’ details in unexpected places and the lapels of coats and jackets are split like stoles, too. I don’t like to talk about fashion as one decade or another, but we have little nods to different eras of Fendi that will speak to different generations.
from left: Selasi wears FENDI, Mamma Baguette bag by FENDI; from left: Rouguy and Selasi wear FENDI, Spy bag by FENDI
How did you balance heritage and newness in this collection?
As we started this important celebration, our centenary, we reflected on what Fendi is, our quintessence. That is what I wanted to express with this show, without referencing a specific decade or collection, just quintessentially Fendi. Behind every creative gesture there’s a meaning to decode. You always have to look at things and their many facets to try to know what’s behind them. And there is so much behind us: 100 years of history and design but also rewriting values and changing social readings.
How did you feel seeing this historic collection go down the catwalk?
Fendi, for me, stands for family. At the end of the autumn/winter show, I hugged my mother, Anna, and my aunt Paola, who said: this is Fendi. That was all I needed. In the backstage there was great emotion too. I missed Karl and I missed my aunt Carla, who was very important to me. At the same time, I felt great support from the public, from industry professionals, from those who saw the show online. I realised that these 100 years represent something to people, not just me and Fendi. It’s a collective family history.
from left: Rouguy and Selasi wear FENDI, Baguette bag by FENDI
Spy bag by FENDI
There are many things in the collection that look like fur but aren’t. Can you tell us about the challenge of making these pieces and how were they achieved? Was it with new or old techniques?
At Fendi, fur is not always fur. We are very interested in experimenting with fabrics and workmanship to mimic fur. In the autumn/winter 2025-26 collection, we applied intarsia, honeycomb and Gheronato patchwork techniques to shearlings that resemble fox, mink and sable, yet are not. We believe in creating high-quality and timeless pieces that will last, and fur is a durable material that is part of our DNA.
Fendi is rooted in incredible craftsmanship. Why does craft matter? Tell us about some of the craft in the collection.
Our craftsmanship and savoir-faire are what stay in time and what my grandmother, my mother and her sisters have always worked for. Many of our products are hand-sewn with the same Selleria stitches used by my grandmother. Today, they are cut with sophisticated machines that ensure a precision that is otherwise unattainable. This also speeds up the process, but the substance is unchanged. Our factory looks more like a science lab. It’s where we do our innovation research and teach people the skills they need to create a product from start to finish. There’s an idea of continuity from the past to the present – I think there is comfort in that. It is extremely important to remember where we come from and know where we are going, because our future relies on it.
Selasi wears FENDI, Mamma Baguette bag by FENDI
Rouguy wears FENDI
You’ve lived and breathed the brand all your life. What does Fendi-ness mean to you?
It’s something alchemic. An obsession with quality. Luxury, a bit of fun and a lot of incredible women.
What’s your most vivid childhood memory of visiting the Fendi atelier?
I remember my mother, Anna, and her sisters would spend their days and nights at via Borgognona, a space that hosted both the boutique and the atelier. During the day, they worked with the alta sartoria [high tailoring] ateliers. I remember the feeling of adrenaline you could breathe in at the creative studio, the emotion of seeing collections come to life. But at night, it became a creative workshop for fashion shows, costumes, parties and projects. People like [filmmaker] Federico Fellini and [costume designer] Piero Tosi would drop in, and they would work and also party late into the night. The set for the autumn/winter 2025 fashion show was like a mirage – it was inspired by how I remembered via Borgognona being larger than life when I was a little girl.
from left: Rouguy wears FENDI, Spy bag by FENDI; Rouguy wears FENDI
What did your grandmother, mother and aunts teach you about style?
They were women with peculiar personalities, all different from each other, but with a common goal: to make this brand, which they believed in, great. They were an excellent example, bold women with great instincts, which taught me their great commitment.
What did Karl Lagerfeld teach you?
So much, both professionally and on a human level. He was a man with an immense intelligence, an endless and encyclopaedic [knowledge of] culture that touched any object or historical period. For him, knowing the past was necessary to write the future. He never wanted to repeat himself or have a retrospective, never looking back, just learning from the past. Karl taught me to never feel as if I have made it. For years, when we would exit the catwalk after a show, he would turn around and say to me: on to the next one.
Selasi wears FENDI
from left: Mamma Baguette bag by FENDI, Selasi wears FENDI
Your daughters Delfina, who designs jewellery for Fendi, and Leonetta, an ecodesign consultant who was part of the Peekaboo campaign, both work for the brand. What have you tried to pass on to them?
I just hope my kids and grandchildren can do what they want in life; I give them a lot of freedom. I like the fact that my daughters are doing something connected to what I do, it makes me feel proud. It makes me believe I have done a good job as a mother and as an example for them. Delfina followed in my footsteps closely and she has an inclination for creativity. Leonetta too, who works in the field of ecodesign, opens very interesting new doors to responsible practices and important methods.
Why do people love bags so much? What’s the connection we have with them? How do you tap into that with your designs?
Bags are timeless because they can be souvenirs from different times of our lives. It’s incredible how you can feel an emotional connection with them, especially at certain moments. There are no rules or secret recipes for the perfect bag. I start with things that I find intellectually stimulating. I listen to myself and often change my mind, as creativity is never a straight path, but if I’m convinced, I keep going. I am a very practical person, which also makes me a realist, especially when it comes to designing accessories. I focus on functionality and realistic silhouettes. I am more audacious when it comes to colours and materials.
Selasi wears FENDI, Baguette bag by FENDI
Selasi wears FENDI
What do you hope the next 100 years holds for Fendi?
Our motto here at Fendi is “nothing is impossible” – let’s see where it takes us! In the future, we will continue the way we did by embracing new challenges with the same curiosity. That’s the secret: be open-minded. We may be a traditional company with a big history, but when many things were changing, we were always there to take risks. That’s part of the Fendi DNA.
10 Magazine’s 25 anniversary issue is out on newsstands September 15. Pre-order your copy here.
FENDI: 100 YEARS OF CREATIVITY
Photographer JOSEPH KADOW
Fashion Editor TOBY GRIMDITCH
Text CLAUDIA CROFT
Models ROUGUY FAYE at New Madison Models Paris and SELASI AFADI at The Claw
Hair DUSHAN PETROVICH using ORIBE Hair Care
Make-up NAOMI GUGLER using BYREDO
Set designer REBECCA ILSE
Photographer’s assistant DANI MAYRHOFER
Fashion assistants LENA LAUER and EKATERINA SAMORUKOVA
Casting LDCASTING
Producer HOLGER GEISSLER
Special thanks to NICOLAS SCHWAIGER
Clothing and accessories throughout by FENDI Women’s and Men’s AW25 collection
