Fendi men’s wear has been on fire and it’s this collection that allows Silvia Fendi to express her design sensibility concisely. Based on a sleek and bold silhouette, her collections are clever riffs on fur, leather and gentile fabrics with logo inclusions – let’s not forget that Karl Lagerfeld sketched out the house’s double FF – at the most unexpected places. Silvia has the support of her son in law Nico Vascellari who has twins with Silvia’s daughter Delfina Delettrez and lately he has overseen the concept, set, sound and video aspects of the show even lensing the house’s first dedicated men’s campaign featuring the British actor, Nicholas Galitzine. Vascellari is a proper artist who will unveil his biggest solo exhibition to date in Florence titled Melma on June 24th. His energy and ideas have clearly pushed Silvia to new heights and instill the family spirit the house is famous for. We also spotted Sébastien Jondeau amongst the show crowd who still is part of the Fendi clan while he has complained to us that the same cannot be said for his former French employers. The factory in Capannuccia also achieved the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum certification marking a significant milestone for sustainability in the luxury sector. Of course this was all orchestrated together as a highlight of Pitti where LVMH had a big show before with Clare Waight Keller’s Givenchy outing for Pitti 96.
Silvia Fendi and the artisans
Sébastien Jondeau after Fendi’s S/S 2024 show
Nico Vascellari, son in law of Silvia Fendi
What stood out?
Apart from the glorious “embedded in nature” aspect of the factory in its terracotta-hues, Silvia Fendi introduced us to what she called a corporate artisan. Of course, he is wearing aprons and tool belts in leather and denim and many variations of work wear jackets. Most of the leather came in nude colors as the company is now using dyes derived from nature. Let’s not forget, dying is amongst the biggest polluters in fashion.
Denim workwear
Naturally dyed leather
Leather looks with lots of references to the Fenid’s artisans as seen in this look here
The skin factor?
Fendi went along with the headlining trend of exposing lots of skin and bare shoulders by introducing see through knitted mesh shirts in most of her looks.
See through knitted mesh shirts
Showing bare shoulders at Fendi S/S 2024
ERL
Venice beach boy Eli Russell Linnetz came to Florence as well as a guest designer and brought along a casting of fresh-faced surfer boys to present his eighth collection for ERL. The men’s wear label uses his initials as the name which has been a hot brand ever since he collaborated with Kim Jones for Dior Men. At the base of ERL is a colorful knitwear spectrum and Linnetz flexed his tailoring muscles for this Italian show. There were lots of glitter and sequins on his either tight and body-hugging festival wear or his oversized tailoring which showed that he still lacks a bit of precision in that department.
Shiny fabrics at ERL
Lots of glitter
Linnetz was a perfect match to come to the capital of Renaissance as he is a multimedia artist himself who shoots and directs his videos and look books, makes his own music for the show soundtrack mixed up with Jim Morrison vocals and a clever public art contribution on the main courtyard at Pitti with a fallen Statue of Liberty sculpture.
Statue of Liberty reference at ERL S/S 2024
Eli Russell Linnetz
