Silvia Venturini Fendi is drunk on summer. For Fendi menswear SS23, the creative director has popped on her amber-coloured glasses; a baguette is transformed into a bohemian satchel, nappa leather is fashioned into cargo pants and technical wear, and denim is sun-bleached and frayed at the edges. It's California dreamin' done the Italian way.
Presented in Milan, the city was dressed appropriately. Temperatures sat in the balmy 30s meaning Ms. Fendi didn't have to simulate summer, all one needed was to step outside. First up on the sky blue runway was a sandy gabardine trench with a tufted denim baguette and biscuit-coloured moccasins to boot. The looks that followed surfaced with texture, and lots of it. Hemlines oscillated between clean and shaggy, while fringe trailed off zippers and pocket details.
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It was a palette of indigo and saffron, save for the sleek black looks that closed the show. Zip-up ribbed knits called our name, ones that in their rightful beach-setting would smell salty and take a beating from the dusk winds. All other outerwear was boxy and oversized, with one chore jacket setting off what would be a healthy showing of cowhide. Summer essentials like denim cut-offs took cues from West Coast skateboarders, varying from ultra mini to swimming at the knees.
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Accessories pointed directly to the ocean. With cloud-like double F pool slides and a dirty denim bucket hat that could have been bleached by chlorine. Daisy-chain necklaces are conjured up in silver hardware adding a touch of luxury to the earthy collection. Fendi's Sunshine Tote was coated in denim and not spared from a fringe makeover. Meanwhile, the Peekaboo was reimagined as a plastic basket-style.
Off the back of Fendi menswear FW22, where Silvia Venturini Fendi pulled out a subversive take on occasion dressing, the show felt as earthy as a bale of hay and we could talk about the collection until the cows come home.
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