Recently confirmed by Fendi and per WWD, Fendi will stage a couture catwalk show in Rome on July 4 in honor of its late creative director Karl Lagerfeld. Bernard Arnault, chairman and chief executive officer of parent company LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, first talked of the show at the group’s annual general assembly in Paris last week.
He spoke of Fendi’s “great sadness” over Lagerfeld’s death in February, two days before its fall ready-to-wear show in Milan, calling the German designer “the soul of the house since many years.” Lagerfeld served as creative director at the label for a record 54 years. “It was probably the longest collaboration there has ever been between a designer and a house, so he leaves an incredible heritage at Fendi,” Arnault told WWD.
The fashion icon, who was also the creative director of Chanel and his own eponymous label, passed away earlier this year at the age of 85 after a battle with pancreatic cancer.
A Fendi spokeswoman explained that the collection will be exhibited in Rome following the show. Details about the location and the time are still being fine-tuned. The collection to be shown in Rome will be designed by the brand’s creative studio with Silvia Venturini Fendi, said the spokeswoman.
Fendi last held a fashion show in Rome at the city’s iconic Trevi Fountain, which the company helped restore, to celebrate the brand’s 90th anniversary and its collection of luxurious fur garments and accessories, designed by Lagerfeld and Venturini Fendi.
The luxury brand already honored the legendary designer, who was appointed to the house in 1965, during its fall 2019 fashion show in February. Small cards inscribed with Lagerfeld’s signature and 19.02.2019, the date of his passing, were placed on every chair along with copies of his sketches from the last collection he designed. As stated in the WWD article no communication has been made yet as to Lagerfeld’s successor at Fendi.
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Source: Fendi, WWD, Page Six
Photo: Karl Lagerfeld and Silvia Venturini Fendi on the catwalk Fendi 90th anniversary catwalk show and dinner, Trevi Fountain, Rome, Italy – 07 Jul 2016 Giovanni Giannoni/WWD/REX/Shutterstock
