Fendi

Fendi, Italian luxury fashion house founded in Rome in 1925 and known for its fur, leather goods, and fashion. Led by members of the Fendi family for much of its history, the company became known for its decades-long collaboration with German designer Karl Lagerfeld and such influential handbags as the Baguette and the Peekaboo. Although owned by the French luxury conglomerate LVMH since the early 21st century, Fendi has continued to involve successive generations of the founding family in its creative leadership.

Founding by Adele Fendi and Edoardo Fendi

The Fendi brand grew from a small fur and leather goods store and workshop opened by Italian entrepreneur Adele Casagrande in Rome in 1918. In 1925 Casagrande married fellow artisan Edoardo Fendi and took his name. The couple also renamed her boutique Fendi for their shared surname and adopted a logo illustrating a squirrel. According to company lore, Edoardo Fendi often described his wife as bustling and busy as a squirrel. The shop soon garnered attention internationally for its leather bags handmade with the Selleria stitch used to make horse saddles. The Fendi family opened additional storefronts in Rome in 1926 and 1932.

The five Fendi sisters

Fendi’s transformation into a luxury fashion house began with the family’s second generation. Adele Fendi and Edoardo Fendi’s daughters—Paola, Franca, Carla, Alda, and Anna, often called simply the “five Fendi sisters”—each gradually took key roles in the family business after World War II. Each sister had her own specialty: Paola Fendi in the manufacture and treatment of fur, Franca Fendi in buying and management, Carla Fendi in promotion and business, Alda Fendi in directing the company’s fur ateliers, and Anna Fendi in bags and leather.

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Lagerfeld and the expansion to fashion

In 1965 the Fendi sisters brought on Lagerfeld as Fendi’s first artistic director in order to modernize the fur line. In 2016 Harper’s Bazaar recapped their enduring relationship—lasting 54 years until Lagerfeld’s death in 2019—noting: “Since their partnership began…Fendi and Lagerfeld have broken every fur barrier in the business. They have perfected groundbreaking techniques that most fashion designers take for granted today, including knitting fur, pleating it on fur skirts, [and] creating ultralight ‘summer fur.’…Lagerfeld rebelliously ripped out linings, tinted fur wild colors, shaved it, gilded it with 24-karat gold, wove it like a basket, and buried it in precious jewels, embroideries, and paillettes.” He also introduced the use of pelts never before seen in high-fashion designs, including mole, rabbit, and (fittingly with the brand’s original logo) squirrel.

In addition, Lagerfeld originated the brand’s two interlocking Fs logo (standing for “fun fur”), which he initially planned to use for the lining of luggage but later adapted as a pattern for Fendi’s ready-to-wear line. The first collection was introduced in 1977. Rather than presenting the collection on a conventional runway, Fendi presented it through a short film, Histoire d’Eau, directed by his companion, Jacques de Bascher. The film follows British-Peruvian model Suzie Dyson dressed in Fendi as she wanders through Rome and plays in its fountains. The collection maintained the house’s emphasis on fur and leather, but also offered coordinated separates, loose trousers, flowing tunics, and cheeky hot pants.

The third generation and the “it” bags

Under the five Fendi sisters, the brand also launched its first fragrance in 1985 and home decor (under Fendi Casa) in 1988. In between Fendi introduced Fendissime (1987), a youthful ready-to-wear line that was managed by the third generation of Fendi, including Silvia Venturini Fendi, Anna’s daughter. Venturini Fendi had been involved with the brand from a young age, modeling for early collections, and, beginning in 1992, joining Lagerfeld in artistic direction. She assumed responsibility for accessories in 1994 and later menswear. Venturini Fendi cemented her place at the company and in fashion by overseeing in conjunction with Lagerfeld two of the house’s major accomplishments: the Baguette handbag (1997) and the Peekaboo handbag (2008), both of which became “it” bags.

The Baguette bag is a slim, rectangular, near-impractically sized bag adorned with a double-F logo clasp. It was released in multiple colors and textures, and, like its French namesake, is intended to be carried under the arm. Although it was released to mixed reviews, the Baguette was made famous by frequent appearances on Sex and the City—including in a 2000 episode in which Carrie Bradshaw (played by Sarah Jessica Parker) pleads with a mugger who demands she hand over her bag: “It’s a Bag-uette!” Carrie also owned Baguettes in other varieties, including snakeskin and leather, all of which were lent to the show by Fendi itself. Venturini Fendi also spearheaded the logo-less Peekaboo, a trapezoid-shaped bag with a clasp that opens to reveal part of its interior.

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Purchase by LVMH

Meanwhile, in 1999 the luxury conglomerate LVMH and fashion house Prada jointly acquired a controlling 51 percent interest in Fendi. Two years later LVMH purchased Prada’s share, becoming Fendi’s majority shareholder. The transaction accelerated Fendi’s transformation from a family-controlled Roman company into a globally distributed luxury brand. With LVMH’s financial backing, Fendi put on its most extravagant runway shows, including on the Great Wall of China (2007), within the Trevi Fountain (2016) in Rome, and amid the city’s Temple of Venus and Roma (2019), near the Colosseum. Fendi financed the restoration of the latter two settings. It also restored the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, the long-neglected, travertine-clad Fascist building on Rome’s outskirts, and moved its corporate headquarters there in 2015.

Changes amid Fendi’s centenary

Following Lagerfeld’s death in 2019, English fashion designer Kim Jones was appointed artistic director of couture and womenswear in 2020. Jones was instrumental in recruiting Venturini Fendi’s daughter, jewelry designer Delfina Delettrez Fendi, as Fendi’s artistic director of jewelry. Her appointment in 2020 formally brought the fourth generation of the founding family into the company’s creative leadership.

As Fendi approached its centenary in 2025 amid a luxury market downturn, the house entered another period of transition. Jones stepped down in 2024 to concentrate on his role with Dior menswear (he left that role several months later), and the following year, Venturini Fendi relinquished her design responsibilities to become the house’s honorary president, a position focused on preserving Fendi’s heritage and craftsmanship. Maria Grazia Chiuri—who had begun her career at Fendi in 1989—was named the house’s chief creative officer.