Kim Jones Makes His Fendi, and Haute Couture, Debut.It was his first collection for
Fendi, but it was also his first ever womenswear collection (he's also at the head of Dior menswear, and prior to that, Jones held the position of director of menswear at Louis Vuitton for seven years),
and Fendi’s debut spring
haute couture show. Drawing from seemingly diverse inspirations, from the visual language of Bernini's marbles to Virginia Woolf's time-travelling, gender-blurring novel ‘Orlando’, the show navigates through a maze-like structure of glass boxes offering a “unique journey from the British Bloomsbury to Rome's Galleria Borghese,” explained the fashion house. The actress Demi Moore, opened the show and Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington and Kate Moss (alongside her daughter Lila) all marked their return to the catwalk. Participated also Cara Delavigne, Adwoa Aboah, with her sister Kesewa, and Bella Hadid. Moreover on the runway Silvia Fendi’s daughters Leonetta and Delfina Delettrez (who created the Murano glass jewellery for the collection). Models walked out slowly to a Max Richter soundtrack amid glass boxes, on a show filmed behind closed doors with no live audience.
Inspired by ‘Orlando’ and the Bloomsbury set of strong, intellectual women, Jones’ debut couture collection, offered both looks for women and men. It was filled with decadent, regal and structured silhouettes in metallic brocade, luxe translucent silk fabrics, woven jacquards, and hand-beaded tailoring. A love letter written by Virginia Woolf to Vita Sackville-West in 1928, only three years after Fendi was founded, Orlando’s literary conceits are directly interspersed throughout the collection, in form of metal-bound book clutches, as well as the text itself being inscribed onto Mother of Pearl minaudières and leather boots.
