To celebrate the opening of the new FENDI Factory in Capannuccia, just outside of Florence, the Italian luxury house hosted its Mens Spring/Summer 2024 collection runway show inside the new building. Blending into the Tuscan hillside, the beautiful new concrete structure stands clad in earth and is surrounded by newly planted olive groves and local flora. The new factory was designed to be an innovative hub dedicated to excellence in fine leather goods.
Before the runway show started, the audience could explore the new building, observing the FENDI artisans working on fine leather goods. This allowed a rare glimpse into the creation of fine leather goods, including Baguettes and Peekaboos. The runway was created in the pathways between the craftsmen, who continued to work on their various machines as the audience took their seats, and the new SS24 collection designed by Silvia Venturini Fendi, Artistic Director of Accessories and Menswear, paraded through the factory floor. Once the finale concluded, Silvia and all the factory workers, even the ones working during the show then walked the runway to tremendous applause. Allowing the otherwise unknown creators of some of the world’s most coveted bags to get their flowers. It was a very moving presentation.
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As for the actual collection, the FENDI Mens SS24 pays homage to the brand’s historic return to Florence, where Silvia Venturini Fendi’s grandmother Adele Fendi travelled from Rome to learn the art of leather craftsmanship close to a century ago. *Goosebumps! While the factory played the part of the venue, it also played a role as inspiration, with the collection pulling imagery and design from the utilitarian elegance of craftsmanship and the archetype of the ‘corporate artisan.’ This concept manifests throughout the collection in patch pockets of workwear belts filled with tools. Aprons turned into collared shirts and tailored pants. A luxury house is nothing without its atelier, and this collection was a direct homage to that fact.
The colour palette for SS24 draws heavily from the very Tuscan landscape, with plenty of mineral shades from burnt umber and terracotta to deep indigo and soft sage, limestone and chalk, with light summer wools and nettle fibre knitwear yarn dyed with vegetal pigments of acacia, juniper, henna and poppy. Other raw materials are abundant from the dry touch of woven paper textiles, fine ‘pattern-print’ linen and unbleached cotton. In homage to the Italian art of basket weaving, FF ‘tweed’ was woven into coated cotton and linen shirts and even a featherweight knit shearling coat.
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While the clothing was stunning with lots of desirable pieces that will for sure end up being a mainstay of many a wardrobe, the real stars of the show was the accessories collection. From supple woven baskets and knotted jacquard ‘lunch’ bags to raffia-embroidered weekenders and rigid FF luggage in bright tool prints, structured and deconstructed bag shapes complement new Baguette and Peekaboo styles in vegetal-dyed textiles, debossed leather ‘scales,’ and trompe l’oeil ‘pattern-print’ graphics.
The real winner for us was the four-set coffee carrier and a coffee cup, a lovely ode to the “coffee break” culture of Italy and the world.
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Lastly, the footwear caught our sight with many a new silhouette making an appearance, the strongest of which was a clog-like shoe, which excited us for next summer!
Watch the full runway show below:
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