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Fendi is a Roman luxury fashion house founded by Adele and Edoardo Fendi in 1925. Beginning as a specialist boutique for handbags, leather goods and fur, it has developed into an international maison encompassing women’s and men’s ready-to-wear, couture, handbags, footwear, accessories, jewellery, fragrances and interiors. Now part of the LVMH group, Fendi remains closely identified with Italian craftsmanship, material experimentation and the visual culture of Rome.
Few fashion houses are as inseparable from their birthplace. Rome is not simply the location given in Fendi’s biography; it is one of the foundations of its creative identity. The city’s monumental architecture, warm stone, dramatic contrasts and coexistence of antiquity and modern life have repeatedly entered the house’s collections, campaigns, stores and cultural projects. Fendi’s own description of itself “Roman by origin, FENDI by nature” captures the importance of that relationship.
The story is also unusually rich in family continuity. Five daughters of the founders helped transform the original business into an international fashion house. Later generations produced some of its most recognisable designs, including the Baguette and Peekaboo bags. Alongside the family, long-term creative collaborators introduced new ways of interpreting materials and silhouette. Together, these influences have allowed Fendi to evolve without becoming detached from the qualities on which it was built: skilled workmanship, inventive design and a distinctly Roman understanding of luxury.
Adele Casagrande had already established herself in leather goods before marrying Edoardo Fendi. In 1925, the couple opened the Fendi boutique and workshop on Via del Plebiscito in Rome, specialising in leather goods and fur. LVMH’s official history describes the early establishment as both a handbag shop and a fur workshop, reflecting the two areas of expertise that would shape Fendi’s development for decades.
The business earned recognition through its choice of materials, careful construction and understanding of an increasingly sophisticated Roman clientele. In 1932, Adele and Edoardo opened a larger boutique on Via Piave. As Rome attracted international visitors, the store helped introduce Fendi’s workmanship to customers from beyond Italy.
The second generation became central to the company after the Second World War. Adele and Edoardo’s five daughters Paola, Anna, Franca, Carla and Alda entered the family business and divided responsibilities across its creative and commercial operations. Their collective leadership became one of Fendi’s defining characteristics.
Rather than treating the company only as an inheritance to be preserved, the sisters recognised that tradition could support experimentation. They maintained the house’s artisanal foundations while looking for ways to make its work more relevant to contemporary fashion. That openness prepared the way for one of the longest and most influential creative relationships in modern luxury.
In 1965, the Fendi sisters invited Karl Lagerfeld to collaborate with the house. His association with Fendi continued until his death in February 2019, spanning approximately 54 years.
Lagerfeld did not approach the company’s established expertise as something fixed. He explored how specialised techniques could be used more freely, introducing lightness, movement, colour, pattern and unconventional surface treatments. Materials traditionally associated with formality could be cut, shaved, woven, inlaid or combined to produce a more contemporary effect.
His work was supported by the knowledge of Fendi’s ateliers. Innovation at the house therefore emerged through an exchange between design and making: an imaginative proposal would be developed through the experience of craftspeople who understood how a material might be altered without losing its beauty or integrity.
Lagerfeld is also credited with creating Fendi’s double-F emblem. The letters were associated with the phrase “Fun Furs,” expressing the lighter and more experimental attitude he brought to the house. The motif subsequently appeared in textiles, linings, luggage, accessories, ready-to-wear and architectural settings, becoming one of Fendi’s best-known visual signatures.
Fendi expanded its fashion language during this period. A women’s ready-to-wear collection was introduced in 1977, enabling the house to express its ideas through complete wardrobes rather than individual accessories and outerwear. Over time, the business developed across men’s fashion, footwear, eyewear, home design and other categories.
The importance of Lagerfeld’s tenure lies not only in its duration. His work demonstrated that established craft could remain culturally relevant when treated as a source of possibility rather than a restriction. That principle continues to inform Fendi’s approach to design.
Silvia Venturini Fendi, daughter of Anna Fendi and granddaughter of the founders, became one of the most influential figures in the house’s modern history. Her work has been especially important to Fendi’s accessories and menswear, bringing a third generation of the family into its creative leadership.
Her most famous design is the Baguette, introduced in 1997. Small, relatively soft and designed to sit close beneath the arm, it offered a distinctive alternative to the more practical bags that dominated much of the market at the time. Its name refers to the familiar Parisian image of a loaf of bread carried under the arm.
The Baguette’s importance cannot be explained by shape alone. Its deceptively simple construction created a platform for extensive reinterpretation. Fendi produced it in leather, embroidery, beads, sequins, textiles, exotic patterns and numerous specialised finishes. The bag could remain recognisable while continually changing its surface and mood.
Its appearance in Sex and the City, carried by Sarah Jessica Parker’s character Carrie Bradshaw, amplified its cultural visibility. Yet the Baguette’s longevity rests on more than television exposure. It established a design model in which a bag could function simultaneously as a recognisable house icon and a canvas for craftsmanship, collaboration and personal expression.
The Peekaboo followed with a quieter but equally distinctive character. Presented in 2008 for the Spring/Summer 2009 collection, it was named after the children’s game because its construction allows the interior to be partly revealed. Instead of concealing every technical detail, the bag makes its lining, compartments and workmanship part of the design.
The contrast between the two bags illustrates the breadth of Fendi’s accessories language. The Baguette is compact, expressive and highly adaptable. The Peekaboo is structured, architectural and deliberately discreet. Both remain prominent within Fendi’s current collections, alongside newer designs and reinterpretations of archival models.
Long before the Baguette became an international fashion symbol, Fendi had developed a reputation for leather craftsmanship. One of the clearest expressions of this heritage is Selleria.
The word relates to saddlery, and the tradition draws upon techniques associated with Roman master saddlers. Selleria pieces are recognised for their handwork, substantial leather and visible stitching. Rather than disguising construction, the technique allows the hand of the maker to become part of the finished appearance.
This is important to understanding Fendi’s version of luxury. The value of an object is not located only in its logo or external recognition. It is also found in the selection of leather, the regularity of a stitch, the balance of a handle, the treatment of an edge and the way a bag develops with use.
Fendi has continued to apply Selleria workmanship to established bags and contemporary designs. In doing so, it preserves a connection between the modern fashion house and the leather workshop from which it emerged.
Fendi’s connection with Rome appears in its designs, presentation spaces and patronage of the city’s cultural heritage. In 2015, the house moved its headquarters into the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana in the EUR district.
Sometimes called the “Square Colosseum,” the monumental travertine building is distinguished by its repeated arches and geometric clarity. Its restoration for Fendi created a base bringing together offices, design functions and exhibition areas. The move coincided with the house’s 90th anniversary and reinforced the relationship between Fendi’s public image and Roman architecture.
The house has also supported conservation projects in Rome. Its best-known contribution was to the restoration of the Trevi Fountain. Following the completion of that work, Fendi celebrated its 90th anniversary in 2016 with the Legends and Fairy Tales presentation staged above the fountain on a transparent runway.
Such projects position Rome as more than an inspirational backdrop. The city becomes an active participant in the house’s identity, while Fendi contributes to the preservation and presentation of places that hold wider cultural significance.
Palazzo Fendi on Largo Goldoni provides another expression of this relationship. Located close to Via Condotti, the building combines retail, hospitality and design in a setting shaped by the textures and proportions of Rome.
Fendi’s Hand in Hand project offers one of the clearest contemporary demonstrations of its commitment to craftsmanship. Initiated under Silvia Venturini Fendi, it brings the house together with ateliers and specialist makers from across Italy, asking them to reinterpret the Baguette through techniques associated with their respective regions.
The official project encompasses one interpretation for each of Italy’s 20 regions. The bags are produced in limited editions and identify the participating atelier and its location inside. Fendi describes the resulting pieces as objects of art, reflecting the time, knowledge and regional character involved in their creation.
The project has drawn attention to practices including lacework, weaving, embroidery, metalwork, macramé and other forms of decorative craftsmanship. In Abruzzo, for example, the Baguette has been interpreted through tombolo aquilano, a traditional bobbin-lace technique. In Liguria, artisan Rosalba Niccoli used hand-knotted macramé, combining regional textile knowledge with Fendi leather.
Hand in Hand is significant because it presents heritage as a living activity. The participating crafts are not treated merely as historical references. They are practised by identifiable makers and transformed through new commissions. The project also emphasises the transmission of knowledge, an issue that matters deeply to luxury houses dependent on skills learned through years of training.
International editions and exhibitions have extended the dialogue beyond Italy, including projects involving artisans in Japan and China. These initiatives retain the Baguette as a common design structure while allowing different craft traditions to enter the conversation.
Fendi remained under the control of its founding family for most of the twentieth century. A major corporate change occurred in 1999 when LVMH and Prada jointly acquired a controlling interest in the company. LVMH subsequently acquired Prada’s share and expanded its ownership. The group records 2001 as the year of its acquisition of Fendi.
Today, Fendi forms part of LVMH’s Fashion and Leather Goods division. This position gives the house access to the international resources of one of the world’s largest luxury groups while its design, heritage and institutional identity remain centred in Rome.
The relationship has supported international retail development, production capacity, communication and long-term investment. At the same time, members of the Fendi family have continued to shape the maison. That continuity differentiates Fendi from houses where the founding family has disappeared entirely from creative and cultural leadership.
Following Karl Lagerfeld’s death in 2019, Silvia Venturini Fendi presented the house’s women’s collections while continuing her responsibilities for menswear and accessories.
In September 2020, Kim Jones was appointed Artistic Director of Fendi couture and womenswear. His first haute couture collection for the house was presented in January 2021, followed by ready-to-wear. His work drew upon Fendi’s archives, Roman references, literary influences and the craftsmanship of its ateliers.
Silvia Venturini Fendi remained Artistic Director of accessories and menswear during this period. Delfina Delettrez Fendi, Silvia’s daughter and a jewellery designer in her own right, was appointed Artistic Director of jewellery in 2021. Her work expanded Fendi’s presence in fine and high jewellery while bringing a fourth generation of the family into a formal creative role.
Jones left his Fendi position in October 2024. Silvia Venturini Fendi subsequently oversaw the house’s collections through its centenary year. Fendi marked its 100th anniversary in February 2025 with a co-educational collection in Milan that connected the house’s history with the continuing presence of the Fendi family.
In September 2025, Silvia Venturini Fendi became Honorary President of the house. The role acknowledged her decades of creative leadership and her continuing importance as a guardian of Fendi’s family heritage.
On 14 October 2025, Fendi announced Maria Grazia Chiuri as its Chief Creative Officer. It was a homecoming of particular significance: Chiuri began her fashion career at Fendi in 1989, working in accessories during a formative period for the house.
Her appointment brought the artistic direction of Fendi’s principal collections under a designer who understood the company from both an internal and international perspective. Between her two periods at Fendi, Chiuri built an extensive career at Valentino and Dior, acquiring experience across accessories, ready-to-wear and couture.
Chiuri presented her first collection as Fendi’s Chief Creative Officer in Milan on 25 February 2026. The Autumn/Winter 2026–2027 show reflected on the house’s female lineage, its Roman identity and its history of collaborative creation. Rather than treating the archive as a catalogue to be copied, the collection approached it as a body of ideas that could be reconsidered for contemporary life.
Her return also completed an unusual historical circle. A designer whose early professional development took place under the Fendi sisters came back to guide the house as it entered its second century.
Fendi presents sustainability through a framework that includes materials, supply-chain knowledge, production practices, durability and the preservation of skills. The house’s sustainability platform places Hand in Hand within its “People First” commitments, recognising that responsible luxury also depends on craftspeople and the continuation of specialist knowledge.
As an LVMH maison, Fendi also operates within the group’s LIFE 360 environmental strategy. The programme is organised around priorities including biodiversity, circular design, climate action, and traceability and transparency. LVMH has set objectives relating to certified strategic raw materials, ecosystem protection, water use and the traceability of supply chains.
It is important to distinguish these group-wide goals from completed achievements attributable to an individual maison. In Fendi’s case, the most visible expressions of responsible practice include investment in durable workmanship, support for specialist ateliers, exploration of material innovation and projects that give renewed purpose to existing craft knowledge.
Luxury objects are expected to be kept, maintained and sometimes passed between generations. Construction quality, repairability and emotional longevity therefore form a meaningful part of the discussion. Fendi’s enduring bag designs demonstrate how an object can remain culturally relevant through careful reinterpretation rather than continual replacement.
Fendi entered its second century with both its family heritage and international standing intact. Ramon Ros became Chief Executive Officer on 1 July 2025, following senior roles within LVMH, including leadership of Louis Vuitton’s business in mainland China.
The house’s creative structure now includes Maria Grazia Chiuri as Chief Creative Officer, Silvia Venturini Fendi as Honorary President and Delfina Delettrez Fendi as Artistic Director of jewellery. This combination brings together executive leadership, new creative direction and continuing participation by descendants of the founders.
Fendi’s contemporary world extends across ready-to-wear, couture, leather goods, footwear, accessories, jewellery, home collections and fragrance. Nevertheless, its identity remains concentrated in a relatively clear set of ideas: Rome, family, craftsmanship, material intelligence and the freedom to reinterpret tradition.
The Baguette and Peekaboo illustrate that philosophy particularly well. Neither has remained frozen in its original form. Each has been remade through changing materials, dimensions, colours and collaborations while retaining the design features that make it recognisable. The same balance can be seen in Selleria leatherwork, the Hand in Hand project and the continued use of Rome as both a physical home and a creative language.
Fendi’s history is therefore not simply a sequence of famous products or creative appointments. It is the story of a small Roman workshop that developed through family enterprise, technical mastery and sustained artistic exchange. One hundred years after Adele and Edoardo Fendi opened their boutique, the house continues to show how tradition can remain alive not by resisting change, but by giving each new generation something substantial to transform.
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