Fendi sees Roaring 20s at Milan Fashion Week in challenging times

Milan - Milan transformed once again into the world's fashion capital Tuesday, with Fendi launching Spring-Summer 2025 women's shows with a flowing 1920s-inspired collection –just enough to make one temporarily forget industry headwinds.

In an elegant and understated start to Fashion Week, Fendi Artistic Director Kim Jones presented a collection to celebrate 100 years of the Italian luxury brand focused on "movement, lightness, excellence and ease."

Rife with dropped waists, elongated shapes, transparent organzas, and shimmering beading, the looks were inspired by the seminal decade of the 1920s, with the show notes citing the 1925 Paris Art Deco exhibition and the publication of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby.

Bands of black or grey were slung low on the waist of transparent skirts, while long, elaborate bead-work marked V-neck dresses in silk and organza –all in never-boring neutrals of cream, black, pearl grey, and rich beige.

The Roaring Twenties may have been top of mind at Fendi, but the luxury industry is more at a whimper during the 2020s a century later, facing a challenging environment, fueled by inflation, low consumer confidence, and weakness in the key market of China.

Still, that won't stop the glamour of Fashion Week, which runs through Sunday and benefits this season from the addition of one more day –the better to squeeze in 57 live catwalk shows attended by buyers, reporters, and other industry professionals.

Highlights of the week include Italy's best-known luxury fashion labels, from Prada and Gucci to Bottega Veneta, Versace, and Dolce & Gabbana.

Fashion Week stalwart Giorgio Armani, however, will not be showing his namesake line this season, having chosen New York for his women's collection on October 17, timed to coincide with the inauguration of a new building on Madison Avenue.

His mid-level Emporio Armani line will get two shows in Milan, followed by a party Thursday in the futuristic theatre located at his fashion headquarters.

Moncler has also shunned Milan this season, opting for Shanghai for its show on October 19, with MSGM, Blumarine, and Tom Ford also absent from the calendar.

Tom Ford announced two weeks ago that Haider Ackermann would be its new artistic director -- with his first collection for Fall 2025 in Paris –while David Koma is to take the helm at Blumarine, following the sudden exit of Walter Chiapponi after just one season.

Less rosy

In presenting Milan Fashion Week's lineup to the press, the general director of Agenzia ICE, a division of Italy's Trade Agency that promotes Italian companies abroad, highlighted the industry's 108 billion euros ($120 billion) in turnover and exports of 81.6 billion euros.

A crucial sector that represents five percent of Italy's gross domestic product (GDP), the health of Italy's fashion industry is currently less rosy than the upcoming catwalk shows would suggest.

So far this year, turnover is down 6.1 percent, according to figures from the National Chamber for Italian Fashion, with the trend expected to continue in the second half of the year.

Forecasts suggest the industry's revenue this year will end up down 3.5 percent from 2023 levels, with recent results from top luxury groups confirming the findings, which are in sharp contrast to years of double-digit growth.

French luxury conglomerate LVMH, which owns the Italian brands Fendi and Loro Piana, saw its 2024 first-half revenue slip one percent to 41.7 billion euros ($46.4 billion).

Rival Kering –owner of Gucci and Bottega Veneta– saw an 11 percent drop in revenue to nine billion euros, with net profit falling by half.

Around 245,000 people, of which 56 percent are Italians, flood Milan during the two weeks of Milan women's fashion –in February and again in September– spending on average 1,638 euros per person per edition, according to a recent study (AFP).