The story of Italian luxe brand, Fendi started from a small leather and fur company way back in 1918 in Via del Plebiscito, Rome by Adele Casagrande. But it wasn’t until her marriage to Edoardo Fendi in 1925 that the brand got its globally iconic name. The couple quickly began to build a reputation for high end quality products resulting in a trip to the Fendi workshop holding great prestige.
The 30s and 40s saw the company’s name spread outside the capital of Rome, especially for its furs that were seen as a luxurious and aspirational material in a woman’s wardrobe. The year 1946 saw the five daughters of Edoardo and Adele Fendi begin to work for the family business, each bringing individual energy, passion and design. The five ambitious young women developed new products for the leather goods and fur lines that Fendi were becoming internationally renowned for. A few years later, in the mid 60s, the Fendi sisters meet a young rising star making waves in the Paris design circuit: a young Karl Lagerfeld who took the already popular brand and shook things up with his distinctive and directional approach to design. The new recruit resulted in the company gaining a younger consumer with Lagerfield creating fur pieces that could be worn as lighter items of clothing. Lagerfield moulded, redesigned and reinterpreted Fendi’s collection. But it was the Fendi bag that really put the brand on the fashion map. The rigid rules of the structured lady’s bag was challenge when Fendi introduced an unstructured, soft luggage that included prints, woven, dyed and tanned leathers . Transferring this revolutionary way of designing to their clothing, the later 70s saw the brands ready-to-wear collection launch and holding the same principals of their soft handbags, this new line was a hit with the young fashionistas and re positioned the brand as still glamorous, but with a sense of energy of the young and ambitious. Now, the designer brand boasts Rihanna, Sofia Coppola, Kanye West, Claudia Schiffer, Jessica Alba and Thandie Newton to name but a few, demonstrating its appeal to the creative glitterati. Fendi eyewear is just one of the luxe accessories that the brand has become known for. Elaborate detailing is mixed with Fendi’s lady-like style across the Fendi collection. Butterfly, square and round in shape, the frames are mostly over sized, keeping their glamorous appeal intact and when worn adds a glamorous flourish of Italian style to an everyday wardrobe. Be Fabulous. Be Fendi.