Silvia Venturini's Fendi show for SS 21 prompted a deep exhale.
It was a spring summer collection, and it evoked that feeling. A mix of nostalgia and the warmth of new possibility.
“I wait every year for summer, and it is usually good, but it is never as good as that summer I am always waiting for,” said Martha Gellhorn. This show seemed to speak, symbolically, to the good things found close to home.
A central theme was family - that much-missed feeling of coming together - with SS 21 being Silvia Venturini Fendi's last collection as artistic directer of womenswear before she hands the reins to Kim Jones.
The Italian brand said it with boxes of Fendi logo pasta as show invitations and a casting of related models.
Edie and Olympia Campbell, Cecilia and Lucas Chancellor, and Philippe and Dries Haseldonckx. And Ashley Graham returning from maternity leave in a sheer wrap dress that said, call me the breeze.
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Why were we exhaling? Perhaps it was the sense of simplicity, but in no way harsh minimalism, offset by Fendi's socially distanced runway show in Milan. Complete with sofas, flowing curtains and digital windows opened to garden flora and the setting sun. A flaxen colour palette spanning women's and menswear and a focus on linen, accented with "cardinal red" - worn so well by model Jill Kortleve. Soft structure interspersed with flowing forms. Clothes one would put on, on a morning laced with the dewy sweetness of spring, and feel good in.
There was cosiness too; Paloma Elsesser trailed a "silk duvét coat" down the runway, and Mica Argañaraz wore hers. In keeping with the familial feel (genetic or chosen) - they met the desire of a literal, luxurious, security blanket. In case of emergency, envelop and carry on. Or take a siesta.
That feeling of home is where you make it.
Following fashion month? Find our favourite moments from London Fashion Week here.
