All About Fendi


 

Fendi storefront boutique

An unmistakable Fendi storefront, image by Saiyans16 sourced from Wikimedia Commons

Possibly the most famous fashion brand to originate in Rome, Fendi is a three-generation operation with deep ties to the city.

The story of this family is, in more ways than one, the story of the Urbs Aeterna itself: a small venture growing to become a global powerhouse… Reminds you of any central Italy empire?!

Knowing all there is to know about Fendi is a key to unlock the modern city and some of its most important landmarks, because in spite of their international status, the Fendis remain fiercely loyal to the Roman territory. Don’t believe me? Read on!

An actual dynasty

Adele Casagrande and Edoardo

The founders of the company, Adele Casagrande and Edoardo Fendi, image sourced from HPVillage.com

The Fendis can be compared to some of the dynasties that have ruled Rome in its glorious past: the Julio-Claudian family, or the Torlonias, for instance.

Like those famous clans, the story of the Fendis is the story of an intuition that created a devoted following. However, not all boutiques in Rome start an empire, which is exactly what the Fendis did.

It all began with Edoardo Fendi, who in 1925 joined forces with (and married!) Adele Casagrande, a fur coat maker. Together, they expanded her initial fashion offering with suitcases and leather goods, such as purses and wallets.

Thanks to their excellent craftmanship, their taste, their eye for detail and – last but not least – a good relationship with customers and suppliers alike, in the span of 10 years they had become famous internationally, and after 10 more Adele and Edoardo involved their 5 daughters in the running of the brand.

“You’re like the fingers in a hand”, Adele used to say to Paola, Anna, Franca, Carla and Alda, meaning that each one was crucial to the development of the fashion house and that the brand itself could not have existed without perfect harmony among them.

Paola became an expert in fur processing and tanning; Franca went on to be the brand’s purchasing manager; Carla worked as head of the sales and press office; Alda ran the Fendi workshop and atelier; Anna was in charge of the design and licensing office.

Now owned by the luxury brand LVMH, which is behind such companies as Christian Dior, Bulgari, Guerlain and Louis Vuitton, Fendi is managed by the family’s third generation: the sons, daughters and nephews of the five Fendi sisters, among them
Silvia Venturini Fendi, Maria Teresa Venturini Fendi and Filippo Fendi Zennaro.

And watch out for the talent of the family’s outsider, Delfina Delettrez, making a different kind of splash in the fashion world without using her family name!

A powerful ally

Karl Lagerfeld Fendi fashion

Karl Lagerfeld remained Fendi’s main collaborator for over 50 years, Image by Siebbi sourced from Wikimedia Commons

Like Michelangelo and Raphael, geniuses and prominent artists serving different popes, the Fendi sisters could count early on on the help of a much more modern visionary: starting in 1965, Karl Lagerfeld started working side by side with the family as a creative director.

He launched the first ready-to-wear collection for women back in 1977 and, more famously, came up with the idea of the brand’s logo, the immediately-recognizable double F’s that initially featured only in the lining of bags and suitcases. The collaboration continued until Lagerfeld’s death in 2019: a peculiar trait in a world where collaborators are dropped and changed with every new collection. Literally, at the drop of a hat!

Touring Fendi’s Rome

EUR district in Rome Fendi Headquarters

A detail of the front for the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana/Square Colosseum: the magnificent Fendi headquarters! Image by Sean Duponti sourced from Unsplash

Much like the city landmarks touched by the creative spark of Bernini or Caravaggio, one could easily come up with a walking tour of all the places in Rome that are relevant to the history of the Fendi brand. Such is their presence in the fabric of the city!

I could begin such a tour from their humble beginnings on Via del Plebiscito, close to where Anna Magnani lived and former PM Silvio Berlusconi has its Roman mansion.

I could then move to Via Borgognona, the location of Fendi’s first boutique, and from there go across Via del Corso to Largo Goldoni, where the main Fendi boutique is now, with offshoots in nearby alleys like Via del Leoncino. I would climb to the roof of their building and enjoy the view from exclusive Japanese restaurant Yuma, and then make my way to Alda Fendi’s Rhinoceros Foundation by the Arch of Janus and the Mouth of Truth.

The tour would come to an end in the EUR district, where the impressive Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana/ “Square Colosseum” built during the Fascist era for the World Fair of 1942 (which WWII prevented from happening!) has become the headquarters for the whole company in 2015. Not without controversy: at the time some protested the “appropriation” of a public building by a private company.

The tour could also include some of Rome’s most famous fountains, which the Fendis seem to have a fondness for: as a matter of fact, they created a specific restoration project worth millions of Euros called, you guessed it, Fendi for Fountains.

Trevi Fountain restored by Fendi

Trevi Fountain after Fendi’s funded restoration work, image by Maria Daniela Garcia Nogueira sourced from Pixabay

Again in 2015, they paid out of their own pocket for Trevi Fountain to be cleaned thoroughly, stained as it was with limestone and pollution. In exchange for their donations they set up a colossal fashion show with a catwalk mounted directly over the basin of the famous monument, with such supermodels as Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid walking out for the house’s 90th anniversary.

The Fendi have been continuing that project with more works (ongoing at the time of publishing this post) on the Janiculum Hill (at the Acqua Paola fountain) and by Largo di Santa Susanna (Moses’ fountain). More restorations will follow in the next few years.

Patrons of the arts

The Fendi for Fountains project ties with the Fendis love for the arts. Much like noble families in Renaissance or Baroque Rome, the brand likes to donate and invest in art and the company collection is said to be worth hundreds of millions.

On top of the restoration donations, the Square Colosseum headquarters routinely house art exhibitions, the Largo Goldoni boutique is graced by an unmistakable work by contemporary artist Giuseppe Penone and the Rhinoceros building is a “lab” where artists are free to collaborate and talks, happenings and more exhibitions are set up several times a year.

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