FENDI explores the unwavering power of physicality with its autumn-winter 2024 women’s campaign.
Photographed by Steven Meisel teamed with creative forces Ronnie Cooke Newhouse and Karl Bolander, in this instance Jones was looking at 1984 in the Fendi archives. The archival sketches reminded Jones of the city of London during that period, with references nodding to the Blitz Kids, the New Romantics, the adoption of workwear, aristocratic style and Japanese aestheticism.
“It was a point when British subcultures and styles became global and absorbed global influences,” said Jones, explaining how these influences were imbued with a British elegance in ease and not giving a damn what anybody else thinks, something that chimes with Roman style.
“Fendi has a background in utility,” he adds, adding “the way the Fendi family dresses, it’s really with an eye on that. I remember when I first met Silvia Venturini Fendi, she was wearing a very chic utilitarian suit – almost a Safari suit. That fundamentally shaped my view of what Fendi is: it is how a woman dresses that has something substantial to do. And she can have fun while doing it.”
Utilitarian and extravagant, the campaign an amalgam of these touchpoints, where tradition meets subversion in blasé British style, that unites it with its Roman counterpart. At the same time, for the women who wear these clothes, it boils down to doing something rather than just being something.
In this collection, Jones explores an ease of dressing where London’s strong identity meets Roman timelessness. Here luxury is found in the sumptuous comfort and strident confidence the clothing and accessories give the wearer to express themselves. Simultaneously practical and playful, a sense of duality – a very Fendi quality – infuses the collection.
The campaign references sculpture as its point of departure, exploring both its connotation and its denotation. In the short film, Anok Yai poses behind a marble sculpture that, despite its lack of head and arms, still has a somewhat dynamic motion from its breezy tunic – with a figure projecting forward into the house’s future.
by Chidozie Obasi