Black and cream and very Roman at Fendi haute couture show

Fendi presented its first haute couture show under designer Maria Grazia Chiuri Thursday, showing off a luxurious collection of black and cream looks -- and a tribute to longtime couturier Karl Lagerfeld.

Held in Rome, where Fendi was established in 1925, and attended by celebrities including Monica Bellucci, Jessica Alba and Italian influencer Chiara Ferragni, the show opened with the luxury brand's instantly recognisable black and cream stripes on sheer, diaphanous dresses and tunics.

Reworked swirls and diagonals popped up throughout Chiuri's highly elegant collection, marked by satin and delicate sheer silk, with 1930s Art Deco elements such as silvery graphics making an appearance.

Black fringe swayed from bodices, while velvet on lace collars added an additional note of luxury. Stripes of leather piping adorned shoulders and capes were intricately embroidered, some with fur entwined in the mix. 

Under the high white ceilings and marble columns of The National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art, guests sipped prosecco and sampled hors d'oeuvres, some fanning themselves with their newly gifted Fendi-labelled raffia fans to battle the July humidity.

With Italy's minister of culture in attendance, the highly anticipated show proved that it wasn't just Milan causing fashion waves.

"Rome is increasingly establishing itself on the international fashion scene as one of the major fashion capitals," Mayor Roberto Gualtieri told AFP, calling Rome-born Chiuri an "extraordinary artist" and "top Roman."

- Museum-worthy fashion -

The event also included a homage to Lagerfeld, the German legend who for more than 50 years was creative director of the house before his death in 2019, with guests touring a reprise of his famous 1985 museum exhibition with Fendi.

"After steps through work. Fendi/Karl Lagerfeld 1985", which opens Friday to the public and runs through October 25, highlights the myriad creative processes that make up a Fendi fur garment, from original sketches and sample boards to patterns and toiles.

In 1985, the show held at the very same art museum caused a scandal.

"It caused quite a stir. Great art critics praised it, but at the same time, there were those who could not accept fashion entering the world of art, even sparking a parliamentary debate," Silvia Venturini Fendi, the brand's honorary president, told Vogue magazine last year.

The practice of museums collaborating with fashion houses, tapping their archives and presenting their designs, is today widespread, and fashion as a legitimate form of art is now celebrated throughout the world.

The exhibit features a wall of Lagerfeld's sketches from the early 1980s -- some 200 sketches out of a collection of 2,000 -- done in coloured pencil and marker pen, where the designer's penchant for volume, with wide, exaggerated shoulders and hems that flare, is on display. 

Showcasing Lagerfeld's "inexhaustible imagination", in the words of the curators, the exhibit sometimes offers up an original sketch together with the final garment. 

In one case, a suggestion of swoops drawn in pencil was seen in its final version -- a black and white double-breasted pea coat adorned with dozens of pleats on the arms and collar.

Sample boards show Lagerfeld testing various techniques, colours, and stitching possibilities in fur and leather, with the material manipulated into swirls, patterns or tactile undulations. 

Fendi, owned since 2001 by French conglomerate LVMH, hired Chiuri last October, bringing the Roman back to the house where she started her career in accessories under Lagerfeld.

After stints at Valentino and making history as the first woman to creatively head Dior, Chiuri said earlier this year that in returning to Fendi, she wanted to "give back" to those who had inspired her early on -- the Fendi sisters behind the business, as well as her mentor Lagerfeld.

The National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art holds the country's largest collection of Italian and international art from the 19th and 20th centuries, including masterpieces by Giorgio de Chirico, Amedeo Modigliani and others.

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© Agence France-Presse