Fendi, 100 years of the all-female Roman fashion house
The true founder of the Fendi house has another surname. Her name is Adele Casagrande and in 1918, still a young woman, she was already an entrepreneur. She ran the family fur shop-workshop in Rome, on Via del Plebiscito, and when she married Edoardo Fendi in 1925, she decided to rename it after her husband. In just a few years, the Fendi company expanded, opening other shop windows in the city and establishing itself as the best place to buy high-quality leather suitcases and bags. From the marriage of Adele and Edoardo, five daughters were born: Paola, Anna, Franca, Alda and Carla. After their father's death, in the first post-war period, they took over the family business and transformed it into an international fashion house, first revolutionizing the world of fur, and then launching it bags over and over again. Adele wanted her daughters to study and get married, becoming quiet mothers, but it was natural for them to roll up their sleeves and join their mother in the shop. It wasn't easy, because at the time the sector was still a male territory.
Complementary and united - “like the five fingers of a hand”, they loved to repeat - they soon divided roles and skills. Paola specialized in researching materials and manufacturing techniques, Alda in furs, Franca began to follow the stores, Anna the design office for leather goods, ready-to-wear and licenses, Carla public relations.
Together, in a few years, the sisters consolidated the business by recruiting various fur stylists from time to time, but it was in 1965, when they secured the collaboration of Karl Lagerfeld, that they started the real Fendi revolution. With the German designer, who would remain in charge for 54 years, they overturned the traditional vision of fur as an item of the establishment, transforming it from a rigid status symbol to a light and contemporary object for everyday fashion. Today, the idea of a maison founded on fur seems anachronistic, and decidedly outdated by the new environmental awareness, but at the time, before '68, every woman aspired to have at least one in her wardrobe, as a symbol of wealth and elegance. Lagerfeld proposed new ideas and models and the sisters responded by adapting the most advanced techniques and the newest colors to his creativity. In short, they became the queens of the market and applied the lenses of fashion to leather goods as well. Everything became less rigid and more functional. And recognizable, thanks to the black double F logo on a mud-colored background designed by Lagerfeld in 1966 which, in addition to recalling the initial of the brand, stands for “fun furs” (fun furs), and characterizes the most successful garments and accessories of the maison in the following years. The Fendi-mania soon spread to the cinema too. In 1973 the sisters created the furs for Ludwig by Luchino Visconti and then, again for the director, they worked on Family Group in an Interior and The Innocent . Michelle Pfeiffer, Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow also wore the house's furs in The Age of Innocence by Martin Scorsese, Evita by Alan Parker and The Royal Tenenbaums by Wes Anderson.
In 1977, the first ready-to-wear collection by Fendi (and Lagerfeld, of course) was born. And in the following years, production expanded to include scarves, gloves, ties, glasses, jeans and household items. Today, the archive contains over 70,000 drawings signed by Karl. His work for the brand was celebrated in 1985, the anniversary of twenty years of collaboration, with an exhibition at the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Rome. In the same year, the first perfume was launched, simply called Fendi, while in 1989 the first American boutique opened in New York and the home line debuted. In 1990, it was also the turn of the men's collection of clothing and accessories. Fendi's success survived the recession of the 1990s unscathed, thanks also to the launch of extraordinarily successful bags. At this point, in fact, Silvia Venturini Fendi, Anna's daughter, joined Karl Lagerfeld and soon became head of the style office. In 1997, he invented the very famous Baguette, an elongated, rectangular bag with a double F buckle and a short handle that is worn under the arm, like the French do when they buy bread (the baguette, in fact). Its international success, and its longevity, are now expressed in over 600 variations (including those that appeared on the looks of Carrie Bradshaw/Sarah Jessica Parker in Sex and The City ).
In 1999, the Fendi sisters decided to sell. The luxury group LVMH, together with Prada, entered with a 51% stake. In 2000, Prada sold its share and between 2002 and 2004, LVMH became the sole majority shareholder. The rest is recent history: Silvia Venturini Fendi remained as artistic director and in 2009 she scored another coup, launching the Pekaboo bag. In 2020, she took on the role of head of accessories and men's collections, and alongside her, Kim Jones took over as creative director of the women's and couture collections, which he left in October 2024. Today, Silvia is curating the great centenary fashion show, scheduled in Milan on February 26, during women's fashion week. Alongside her is her daughter Delfina Delettrez, who manages the maison's jewellery, representing the continuity of the matriarchal line that also unites her to her great-grandmother Adele, her grandmother Anna and her aunts.
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