From Princess Anne to princely menswear

Silvia Fendi continues to get more inventive. Admirably, at her latest menswear show on Saturday for Fendi, the key Italian fashion house in LVMH's mammoth luxury empire.

Silvia's starting point was Princess Anne, seen in the center of her mood board, and the result was a blooming 24/25 autumn/winter with a great product.

“I gave the collection the title 'City and Country,'” explained Silvia, in a backstage full of Asian urban stars with chiseled jaws.

Judging by this collection, the house is clearly expecting another very harsh winter, with Barbour-style parkas and safari jackets made with Fendi's double 'F' monogram. The feeling of quality was inspiring; from trompe l'oeil gray shaved mink safaris to deerskin parkas and huge icy fox pelts
coats.

“The Fendi man, great classics with attitude for today. Clothes that you can keep for a lifetime. He started with Princess Anne. But starting a men's collection with a woman is not a problem for me. I like the way she wears menswear and the way she wears tartan,” Silvia told FashionNetwork.com backstage.

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The result was a series of skirts, skorts and kilts, cut below the knee or shorter culotte style. Mixing items that could have come out of your grandfather's closet with new items. And always including a sense of humor, such as the reinterpretation in shaved skin of the common plastic or garden coffee.

Indeed, since the death of Karl Lagerfeld and the arrival of Kim Jones as women's creative director of Fendi, Silvia has been able to concentrate on men's fashion. The result is that Fendi menswear in recent years has consistently been among the top 10 shows on the international calendar.

Fendi is very much the Italian fashion star of LVMH, which already employs a total of 13,000 people on the peninsula, a figure that will increase to 15,000 in the coming years.

The French conglomerate has invested heavily in Italy and has smartly tapped into the country's unique artisanal skills. So much so that next month the LVMH Maestri d'Eccellenza Award, its highest honor for qualified artisans, will be held in Milan.

Expect Fendi to play a prominent role in that event.