So, backstage at her Autumn/Winter 2024 Fendi menswear show, Silvia Venturini Fendi threw out a reference to how great Princess Anne looked at the coronation last summer, and a thousand Instagram captions abounded. Could you see a bit of Anne in her man? Perhaps. It wasn’t exactly royal regalia, but there were jewels aplenty at throats and pinned at the waist, and the Fendi insignia clasps were glittering too.
The idea of royalty inspiring fashion isn’t that new. A century or so ago, the royals still set trends – it was Edward VII who began colloquially referring to his coat as a ‘Burberry’ after giving them the royal warrant, shaping how London men dressed, and his grandson the short-lived Edward VIII better known as the Duke of Windsor was a snappy dresser who helped popularised then eyebrow-raising ideas like bowler hats and the American-style black-tie tuxedo.
But this collection wasn’t nearly so staid – nor, it must be said, so traditionally masc. The first F of that famous double-F Fendi logo – designed by former creative director, the great Karl Lagerfeld, back in 1965 – stands for ‘Fun’. And there’s always plenty of that in Fendi, a knowing playfulness that still manages to be faultlessly sophisticated. Silvia Fendi loves putting men in skirts – she’s been doing it for years and has seen it transition from a showy and flamboyant catwalk statement to a genuine reflection of the way many young men actually dress now, shrugging off traditional gender binaries. Fendi hasn’t yet gone down the sports-bra-as-crop-top look that emerged last summer as a bona fide menswear look, but they’re not far behind. The skirts in this collection were endearingly dowdy – definite shades of HRH off-duty stomping moorlands, and more than a bit of Mrs Doubtfire. Pleated and panelled, they obviously drew on the Scottish kilt, and in tweeds they had a swagger.
The kilt is worn for high ceremony and, increasingly, for informal occasions – and, fittingly, this collection was about a synthesis between town and country, formality and sports, with sweeping loden coats seemingly ready for stomping Balmoral highlands, but shown alongside precise tailoring. Even Wellington boots were given a luxury workout in gains leather with that thick Fendi stitch – incidentally, pulled from saddles. Which is very Windsor, too.
And of course, there were lots of bags. Silvia Fendi oversees accessories across the entire house that bears her name, and has blurred the lines between gender demarcations for a good decade. Today, the Fendi man is as likely as the woman to tote a tiny pochette – they called them ‘wash bags’ to give a masculine slant – or, perhaps, a new bag called the Siesta, shaped and padded like a pillow, cuddled by models who seemed ready for a snooze. Just the thing Princess Anne may need for an overly long state dinner.
