Fendi seemed to have an atavistic, perhaps artistic, need to return to the brand's ready-to-wear roots in the mid-1960s to confront the first collection since the loss of Karl Lagerfeld, the brand's founding womenswear designer from 1965 until his death last February.
The new collection by Silvia Venturini Fendi drew on easy 1960s mom styles, like quilted jackets and matching mini-skirts, garden floral cropped raincoat and skirt and easy-to-wear terry-cloth skirts and canvas jackets.
Woven bags and matching woven sweaters had a nostalgic, almost naïve feel, countered by a plunging V-line and translucent print mini or matching macrame weave skirts.
Fendi Spring-Summer 2020 collection, unveiled during Milan fashion week. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Fendi Spring-Summer 2020 collection. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
A model wears a creation as part of the Fendi Spring-Summer 2020 collection at Milan Fashion Week. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Florals and gardening references tied in neatly with the menswear Spring/Summer 2020 collection previewed last June in Milan. A series in golden honey yellow and brown gave a down-to-earth buzz to a checked fur coat, or gingham dress with short-sleeved fur in matching trim. For the queen bee, there was a fur-check intarsia coat, with sheer checked skirt and a cropped marigold knit top. The look finished with bug-eye glasses, fastened with a librarian eyeglass chain bearing the double FF logo, and large brim prairie bonnets.
Fendi Spring-Summer 2020 collection. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Fendi Spring-Summer 2020 collection. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
The 1969 hit "The Age of Aquarius" played throughout the show, setting an optimistic tone for Fendi's debut collection flying as the solo headliner. And she took her bows standing in front of the image of a rising orange sun to the companion melody "Let the Sunshine In."