The set design at the Fendi autumn/winter 2023 womenswear runway show bore a similar resemblance to that of its haute couture spring/summer 2023 show prior: both were built around light. I also mentioned during my review of the latter that artistic director Kim Jones may have finally hit his stride at Fendi. Perhaps the lighting had something to do with it because once again, the latest collection proved my point.
“The first day that Delfina walked into work, she was wearing blue and brown, and I thought she looked so great. There’s a chicness but a perversity to the way she twists Fendi, which is what I love,” expresses Jones in the collection notes.
The Fendi autumn/winter 2023 womenswear collection took inspiration from Delfina Delettrez Fendi’s style. The house’s artistic director of jewellery, according to Jones, traipses a line between ladylike sophistication and a sense of insouciant self-expression. What that eventually looked like on the runway was a collection teeming with classic womenswear silhouettes—almost always hugging curves—juxtaposed with some semblances of masculine elements.
Slinky knits were key and provided a somewhat modest based from where layers were then built from. There were flashes of perversive elements in the form of knee-high leather boots as well as lingerie appliqués and panelling, that all helped to elevate the collection’s classic foundations.
What became a running theme throughout was the purposefully twisted details. This was evident in the opening number that consisted of a cardigan designed with a slashed-and-twisted neckline—repeated again down the line-up—and knit dresses that featured a twisted front-fastening, buttoned just enough for a sliver of leg to peek through.
On the bag front, Silvia Venturini Fendi introduced the Multi and C’mon—two new silhouettes that drew on the collection’s sophisticated nature with a twist. The Fendi Baguettes were reinterpreted as utilitarian-skewed objects peppered with multiple front compartments each bearing the double F motif of the house, and carried in such a non-precious way that truly captured the vibe.
View the full Fendi autumn/winter 2023 womenswear collection in the gallery below.
