With a true notion of friendship at heart, Kim Jones and Silvia Venturini Fendi started “Friends of FENDI”, which is a diverse series of projects and collections distinguished by a belief in sincerity over strategy. This one, the FENDI Winter 2023/2024, explores both the traditional womenswear and menswear sides of FENDI, is curated with Stefano Pilati, and reaches a new conclusion for the house, going beyond gender to something essentially more character-driven and iconoclastic. With a reflection on the 1920s as well as the 2020s, Pilati explores the idea of ‘the flapper’ for today, proposing answers as to who might fulfill that role now both through clothing and casting.

The collection brings a sense of duality – a very FENDI quality – both in terms of individual garments and accessories together with clothing combinations, and this duality extends to where Milano meets Roma in the collection: here, Milanese bourgeois chic meets Roman freedom. Classics of silhouette, materiality, and taste are approached rigorously and playfully by the Milanese Pilati at the quintessential Roman House. A blend done with perfection, this collection will launch on 25 October at the House’s Dubai Mall Flagship Boutique followed by its regional flagships in the Middle East.