Deftly adapting his first women’s couture collection, Kim Jones translates key silhouettes into a crisp ready-to-wear and accessories edit for spring
Words by ELIZABETH VARNELL
Relying on a lean black-and-white palette, Kim Jones pared down his own debut couture designs for Fendi to create a modern ready-to-wear capsule collection available for only two weeks at the store on Rodeo Drive, launching on April 15.
Artistic director KIM JONES.
The timely drop is a deftly controlled womenswear debut for Kim Jones
The restraint required for such an undertaking, and the monochromatic melding of conventional codes of masculinity and femininity evoke Virginia Woolf’s masterful Orlando, itself a barrier-breaking exploration of gender binaries. Fendi’s new artistic director of couture and womenswear cites Woolf’s bohemian Bloomsbury set and the novel, whose androgynous namesake character first appears as a man in the Elizabethan age and shifts genders over centuries before finding herself in 1920s Britain, as the inspiration for both his spring/summer couture collection and this limited-edition ready-to-wear translation.
BELLA HADID wearing FENDI ready-to-wear.
A crisp cotton striped shirt with elongated cuffs and cady and wool silk tailored pieces including a sharp double-breasted black suit join elegantly draped satin dresses and gowns in the capsule. In all, the timely drop is a deftly controlled womenswear debut for the Dior Homme creative director who previously spent seven years helming menswear at Louis Vuitton.
LILA GRACE MOSS wearing FENDI ready-to-wear.
In addition to the precisely-cut clothes, a full slate of accessories rounds out the capsule. The Roman house’s eternal Baguette bags are trimmed in pearls for this ephemeral collection, and Peekaboo iterations come in prints inspired by Charleston house in Sussex, the home of Woolf’s sister. Pearls embedded in resin and embossed with rhinestones comprise the accompanying jewelry collection. Knee-high satin boots or ballerina slippers beaded with Karligraphy monograms (created by the house’s former artistic director, the late Karl Lagerfeld) also evolved from the couture presentation. With an eye toward clean lines and exacting shapes, Jones’ next-level looks for spring and summer — neatly translated into ready-to-wear — drop hints at what’s to come from Fendi under his creative direction. 201 N. Rodeo Dr., 310-623-3420
Feature Image: BELLA HADID wearing FENDI ready-to-wear.
April 7, 2021.
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