Maria Grazia Chiuri Displays Fendi Debut Collection At Milan Fashion Week

Headline-making Maria Grazia Chiuri has made a comeback to fashion eight months after leaving Dior, returning to her roots at the luxury Roman Fashion brand, Fendi, as creative director. Chiuri stunned guests as Milan fashion week commenced with a catwalk emblazoned with the motto: “Less I, More Us.”

Chiuri told the media that she wanted to commemorate Fendi’s proud matriarchal heritage, which has been led by four generations of women in the family.

She adds that the new chosen motto was a celebration of “the female way of doing fashion, and also the Italian way of doing fashion, which is about sharing ideas, and craftsmanship, and working in freedom.”

Although the celebrities in attendance hoped to wait until June for the menswear collection, Chiuri provided a preview during the women’s show, sending down a substantial number of menswear pieces.

Chiuri, who is also Roman, started as a young designer at Fendi in 1989, at just 24, and spent 10 years establishing herself as an upholder of the Fendi tradition. She began as an accessories designer, then improved her skills under the supervision of the Fendi sisters, Paola, Anna, Franca, Carla and Alda, who also mentored her.

Reports state that Chiuri, who has also previously worked for Valentino, returned to fashion’s front bench eight months after leaving Dior, where it’s said revenues nearly quadrupled for more than 7 years, and was stamped with her identity and values. The designer pointed out to American Vogue this week that her stellar sales figures at Dior were not celebrated in the way a man’s would have been.

Fendi’s launch at the fashion week was mainly about losing the rich-lady visually pleasing codes and going with modern women’s lives.

Fendi, which began as a fur house before delving into other aspects of fashion, in 1965 hired a Paris designer, Karl Lagerfeld, eighteen years before his tenure at Chanel began. Lagerfeld modernised and revolutionised Fendi, designing the now well-known double F logo, which stood for Fun Fur.

As a young designer in the Fendi accessory studio in the 1990s, Chiuri is credited as a co-designer of the iconic Baguette bag, which was also featured at fashion week, made world famous by Sex and the City.