Friends of Fendi: Stefano Pilati Reimagines Heritage in Latest Collaboration
A creative platform conceived by Silvia Venturini Fendi and Kim Jones welcomes designers close to the Maison, with Stefano Pilati reveiling the first collection.
Based on the concept of friendship, Fendi proposes a project that opens the horizons of the fashion system entitled " Friends of Fendi", a new series of collaborations that invite designers close to the Roman Maison to design a men's and women's collection. Stefano Pilati inaugurates this project wanted by Silvia Venturini Fendi and Kim Jones : «He is one of the designers I admire most» says Jones in the press note, «I have always been in love with his work and he is a person who I look up to him: he has been a source of inspiration for my work. Stefano embodies Friends of Fendi: he is a friend, an inspiration and a designer for modern times, who always looks to the future, asking questions and proposing solutions."
It all translates into a collection that pushes the boundaries of men's and women's clothing, with the aim of representing an iconoclastic fashion concept in its entirety. Reflecting on a parallel between the 1920s and 2020, Pilati identifies the idea of representing flappers today; unconventional women from the Roaring Twenties, who challenged social norms with garçonne hairstyles and sparkling short dresses covered in fringe and beads. Translating everything into a collection in which the focus remains on clothing and casting, Stefano Pilati works on audacity and freedom, a dualism that coincides perfectly with Fendi's creative spirit.
Milan against Rome: I am Milanese, but in the Roman style there is a freedom that Milan does not have, there is always an "more". This is the meeting of two worlds and I am so touched by the opportunity that Kim, Silvia and Fendi gave me to be so much myself while exploring their, the incomparable world of Fendi." Stefano Pilati
In the Fendi winter 2023-24 men's and women's collection curated by Stefano Pilati, the skilled mastery of the cut and construction of the garments of the Italian designer, former creative director of Yves Saint Laurent, Ermenegildo Zegna and founder of the Random Identities brand, emerges. The wardrobe is a contamination between genders: the rigor of the male sartorial construction is dampened by the female sinuosity. We find silk or leather shirts, tailored trousers and skirts with relaxed peplums which are also taken up in the dresses.
Stefano Pilati reconfirms himself as a stylist who knows the excellence of the profession and the rules of tailoring, but in his approach there remains a burning desire to undermine the obvious, break the ordinary patterns of fashion to embrace a less conventional and obvious ideology.
