Fendi Milan Fashion Week S/S 2013

The latest ready-to-wear collection by Fendi was a masterly celebration of calm geometry, nevertheless it ended up with a bang, with sparkling motives recalling the milky way.

For its own 87th anniversary, the Italian house opted for a brand new way of doing modern: applying to the creative process the so-called “saldatura”, a kind of electrical welding, instead of the traditional stitching, which gave leather and even crocodile Napa an incredibly thin look, almost feather-like. Leather panels were assembled in the dress, and fur looked like chiffon, purely startling. This interesting technique, though, did not invalidate the traditional heritage of the house, the artisanal touch applied to every single item, made rigorously by hand.

Contraposition of multiple lengths was the protagonist of the show, so iconic that Karl Lagerfeld himself associated them to the Sistine Chapel frescoes for the shared application of perspective: black and colored borders concretely framed the clothes, giving them high profoundness and intensity, and leading to pure sculptural three-dimensionality. This incredible modernity was adapted to a kind of sixties mood, with light vintage colors such as yellow, orange, blue, ochre applied in blocks on fur, leather, even metal sequins.

Items were matched in unusual ways with sculptural multi-color shoes, and iconic bags were reinterpreted and dyed with funny motives, such as the checked one applied to Pickaboo bag. This celebration of rigid three-dimensional geometry was suddenly interrupted by the final outfits coming out on the catwalk, sort of reproduction of the shiny sky at night, adorned with thousands of stars. Golden and silver dresses and coats were alternated with energetic outfits standing out of the crowd for their cosmic and flashy motives.

Balance between constructive emphasis of perspective and explosive motives: it seemed to be house’s mantra for this fashion show. As usual, the brand well knows how to surprise.