Fendi

In 1918 Adele Casagrande set up a leather and fur workshop in the city of Rome, Italy. Seven years later, she married Eduardo Fendi, and her workshop was renamed after him, as FENDI. The Fendis thengave birth to 5 daughters, Paola, Anna, Franca, Carla and Alda. When their father died in 1954, the 5 daughters took over Fendi and decided to expand and develop it, following Adele Casagrande Fendi death in 1978, aged 81.

The first line which the 5 sisters introduced was mainly Furs. This is why Fendi became very famous for their fur coats. In 1962, they called on Karl Lagerfeld to design their dramatic fur garments and he has been doing so ever since then. Lagerfeld also introduced their logo, with the double F.

They shared the work, Paola presided over the pelts, Anna designed bags and accessories, Franca ran the luggage and leather shops, Alda managed the fur salons and Carla (known as the General) was the overall supervisor.

The children of these 5 sisters have also grown up in the business and have become Directors of the company. They have brought out their own label, named Fendissime.

In 1966 Fendi came out with their Couture Fur collection, during the 1969 ready-to-wear collections. Lagerfeld has designed fur casualwear, fur trimmed denim jacked, fur-lined sporty raincoats, and other items of clothing combining his high fashion aesthetic with high tech developments and colouring techniques.

In 1990 Gianbattista Valli worked for a year as designer for the new line Fendissime.

Around 100 Fendi boutiques are now found in all major cities in the world such as London, Paris and New York. Nevertheless, the main stronghold for the house of Fendi remains Rome. Fendi also have a flagship store on Fifth Avenue, New York.

In 1999, Fendi sold 51% of their stock to a Prada/LVMH joint venture. Today LVMH owns the great majority of all the shares in Fendi.

For the Autumn/Winter 2002 collection, Lagerfeld chose to keep things simple and stylish with a fabulous ode to Courreges, spiced up with fur and ruffles.

Find fashion by Fendi @ the following eshops: