A FENDI life is one lived between town and country, for fresh air and even fresher ideas. Designed by Artistic Director of Accessories and Menswear Silvia Venturini Fendi, the FENDI Men’s Fall/Winter 2024-25 collection muses on the noble pursuits of the great outdoors, streamlined by the swagger of the city. With tradition and technology in constant dialogue, a masculine wardrobe born from necessity is nuanced with Roman decadence: from the FENDI ateliers, to the world.
Pondering the changing landscape of sartoria, the hybridity of the silhouette and its multiple meanings remains a constant question in menswear, answered by FENDI in ways that transcend and surprise. Uniting a deep knowledge of culture with the prowess of techniques new and old, subtle expressions of Europeana abound, from the soft rub of Casentino blanket wools to the waxy polish of all-weather cloths and the smooth hand of loden. Amongst the hibernal palette of peat and granite, burnt umber, coal and forest green, bright swathes of cornflower and denim blues, cherry, grass green, canary yellow and cloud gray all flourish in contrast or tone-on-tone.
Expounding upon the duality of the urban and the bucolic, the spirit of the Scottish kilt is imbued across the collection in long pleated shorts worn with leather Wellingtons and hiking socks, flat-front checked skorts or classic trousers tweaked with controlled pleats down each leg. Generous outerwear shapes with raglan shoulders and flat leather tab buttons are adorned with Selleria leather collars and contrast accents in suede ‘corduroy’, with fisherman’s coats and waterproof wax jackets in FF canvas side-by-side with opulent bombers and peacoat shapes engineered with shaved trompe l’oeil shearling piping and seams.
Color-blocked knitwear underpins tailoring with playful accents, from the luster of heat-pressed cable knits to ribbed wrap cardigans and triple-layered hems or cuffs on polo sweaters and tanks. Expanding the season’s dense material vocabulary, washed denim and mohair textures are looped, shredded and knit to look like fringed ‘furs’, plissé polished leather is crafted into an exceptional trench coat and bomber jacket, whilst glossy satin and lurex shimmers across evening ensembles caught by flourished crystal FF evening brooches by Artistic Director of Jewellery, Delfina Delettrez Fendi.
Relishing in a sense of homely sophistication and a tribute to the Selleria and leather workmanship, the FENDI Men’s Fall/Winter 2024-25 accessories collection is all curves and contours, from the new Siesta bag that flattens like a pillow in striped quilting or shearling, to the folding modularity of the Melon hobo and backpack styles adorned with chrome FF2 hardware. Two-tone and textured leather wash bags are carried as irreverent day bags, whilst the smooth, cushioned form of the Peekaboo ISeeU Soft returns alongside the beveled lines of the padded Baguette Soft Trunk. On foot, lace-up deck shoes are elevated on a platform injected sole, whilst grain leather Wellington boots are traced with Selleria stitching up the ankle.
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Continuing the House initiative of progressive partnerships that align the worlds of fashion and architecture, two designs created in conversation with the Beijing, Los Angeles and Rome-based architecture studio Ma Yansong/MAD Architects are unveiled on the FENDI Men’s Fall/Winter 2024-25 runway, furthering the season’s call-and-repeat between man and nature with a futuristic edge. Under the creative direction of Silvia Venturini Fendi and MAD founding partner Ma Yansong, the Peekaboo ISeeU is deconstructed with varnished aluminum contours on the facade and handle, in a nod to MAD’s organic and flowing architectural style. A slip-on futuristic sneaker features an organic, injection-molded sole and upper with two-tone bubble details and metallic accents – its low, flat profile creating an ergonomic alternative to the season’s twisted classics.
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Furthering FENDI’s pursuit in the fields of music and technology, the Men’s Fall/Winter 2024-25 runway also unveils the FENDI x DEVIALET Mania portable handheld speaker, worn with looks 6, 20, 32, 34 and 43. Crafted by Devialet’s French team of haute technologie engineers, and wrapped in a technical FF case in brown and tobacco with gold or gray and black with silver, this state-of-the-art 360° stereo speaker offers outstanding audio purity through a unique architecture and proprietary acoustic mapping technology that adapts its stereo soundstage to its environment to deliver perfect treble and bass on the go.
Conceived by the Italian artist Nico Vascellari, the FENDI Men’s Fall/Winter 2024-25 runway show takes place with a live audience seated on brushed steel benches in a path of elongated FF monograms creating a geometric path through the FENDI headquarters in Milan, Italy.
Continuing the FENDI tradition of bespoke show soundtracks created for the House through collaborations with the Italian electronic music scene, the show is accompanied by a new original composition by Vascellari and DJ and producer Rocco Rampino.
