Above image: Fendace SoHo NYC
Fashion was hit particularly hard by the pandemic lockdowns, with prolonged retail closures, and the danger of spreading the virus making physical presentations nigh impossible, significantly mitigating the industry’s glamour factor. So by summer of 2021, when it was finally safe to do so again, the top fashion houses started tapping high-profile creatives like Sofia Coppola (Chanel) and Wim Wenders (Ferragamo) to valiantly attempt to ratchet up the dazzle again.
But perhaps nothing got the style set chattering quite so excitedly as the monumental link up of two storied Italian fashion houses, Milan’s Versace and Rome’s Fendi. The collab, introduced at Milan Fashion Week last September, saw Creative Directors Donnatella Versace, Silvia Venturini Fendi and Kim Jones sharing their particular stylistic genius across the two labels, the ultimate result being the cleverly named venture Fendace.
“It’s a first in the history of fashion,” Donatella enthused at the time, “three designers having a true creative dialogue that stems from respect and friendship. It led to us swapping roles to create these [new] collections.”
Last week a global series of pop-up boutiques – London, Paris, Dubai, Tokyo, etc. – officially made Fendace available to the fashion-loving public. But now the first official images have been released of the two “flagship” pop-ups, one at 323 Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, the other at 90 Prince Street in New York’s shopping mecca of SoHo.
Everything about the interiors vividly reminds of the aesthetic signifiers of the two houses, with the Versace signature Barocco adorning the walls and ceilings, and the double F Fendi logo imprinted throughout. Jackets, dresses, handbags, shoes, etc. are strikingly displayed on bright pink and yellow fixtures.
The collections are available online at Fendi.com and Versace.com. But for those for whom the thrill of the return to the physical shopping experience overrides any matters of convenience, the pop-up boutiques are actually the only retail locations period offering both the complete Versace by Fendi and Fendi by Versace collections. We’ll see you there, obviously.
Above images from top: 1-2, Fendace LA; 3-5, Fendace SoHo NYC
