<text class="_textbox_x434h_15" direction="ltr" height="11.883003234863281" lengthadjust="spacingAndGlyphs" textlength="116.08453369140625" x="721.7219848632812" y="-97.91709899902344" data-test="textbox">Creative Director </text><text class="_textbox_x434h_15" direction="ltr" height="12.053001403808594" lengthadjust="spacingAndGlyphs" textlength="137.68975830078125" x="841.9683227539062" y="-97.91709899902344" data-test="textbox">Silvia Venturini Fendi </text><text class="_textbox_x434h_15" direction="ltr" height="11.883003234863281" lengthadjust="spacingAndGlyphs" textlength="162.26495361328125" x="979.0286254882812" y="-97.91709899902344" data-test="textbox">celebrates the maison&rsquo;s </text><text class="_textbox_x434h_15" direction="ltr" height="12.053001403808594" lengthadjust="spacingAndGlyphs" textlength="112.21527099609375" x="708.67138671875" y="-81.91709899902344" data-test="textbox">100th anniversary </text><text class="_textbox_x434h_15" direction="ltr" height="11.883003234863281" lengthadjust="spacingAndGlyphs" textlength="223.3101806640625" x="826.105712890625" y="-81.91709899902344" data-test="textbox">and reflects on working alongside </text><text class="_textbox_x434h_15" direction="ltr" height="12.053001403808594" lengthadjust="spacingAndGlyphs" textlength="93.992919921875" x="1053.462158203125" y="-81.91709899902344" data-test="textbox">Karl Lagerfeld</text><text class="_textbox_x434h_15" direction="ltr" height="2.6009979248046875" lengthadjust="spacingAndGlyphs" textlength="2.77099609375" x="1146.455810546875" y="-81.91709899902344" data-test="textbox">, </text><text class="_textbox_x434h_15" direction="ltr" height="11.339004516601562" lengthadjust="spacingAndGlyphs" textlength="52.58270263671875" x="719.688720703125" y="-65.91709899902344" data-test="textbox">creating </text><text class="_textbox_x434h_15" direction="ltr" height="12.053001403808594" lengthadjust="spacingAndGlyphs" textlength="68.742919921875" x="776.635986328125" y="-65.91709899902344" data-test="textbox">iconic styles </text><text class="_textbox_x434h_15" direction="ltr" height="11.865997314453125" lengthadjust="spacingAndGlyphs" textlength="24.68060302734375" x="849.6292724609375" y="-65.91709899902344" data-test="textbox">like </text><text class="_textbox_x434h_15" direction="ltr" height="12.053001403808594" lengthadjust="spacingAndGlyphs" textlength="74.55865478515625" x="878.5083618164062" y="-65.91709899902344" data-test="textbox">the Baguette</text><text class="_textbox_x434h_15" direction="ltr" height="11.883003234863281" lengthadjust="spacingAndGlyphs" textlength="184.45849609375" x="953.4954833984375" y="-65.91709899902344" data-test="textbox">, and her own family bonds.</text>

Silvia Venturini Fendi is much more than just a designer: She is the direct heir to a family vision that she has reinterpreted with a free spirit, creative intelligence, and profound consistency. The daughter of Anna Fendi&mdash;one of the legendary five sisters who transformed the Roman atelier into a symbol of international luxury&mdash;Silvia grew up immersed in the Fendi universe, surrounded by art, fashion, and innovation. She joined the company in the 1990s and worked side by side with Karl Lagerfeld, contributing to the creation of a new aesthetic characterized by irony, freedom, and sophistication. 
The creator of designs such as the Baguette and the Spybag&mdash;emblems of an era that are now part of contemporary fashion iconography&mdash;today she leads the house&rsquo;s menswear and accessories lines with a style that combines tradition and modernity, identity, and invention; she additionally oversees the brand&rsquo;s design and interiors division. After Kim Jones&rsquo;s departure in 2024, she also took over the reins of women&rsquo;s Ready-to-Wear, bringing the spotlight onto the latest collection, which celebrates Fendi&rsquo;s 100th anniversary. Here, she opens up to L&rsquo;OFFICIEL about leading the brand into its next century.

Courtesy of Fendi.

L&rsquo;OFFICIEL: Silvia, this year Fendi celebrates a remarkable milestone:100 years of history. What&rsquo;s your first major memory of your family&rsquo;s fashion house?
SILVIA VENTURINI FENDI: I stepped into this world when I was 7years old, and that moment is captured in the photo featured on the invitation to the Fall/Winter 2025 show: I&rsquo;m wearing an outfit designed by Karl Lagerfeld, the same one my grandchildren wore to open this year&rsquo;s show. That&rsquo;s when I first felt the adrenaline rush that fashion can give. It was a very intense emotion, and that was the moment I fell in love with Fendi and knew I wanted to be a part of it.
L&rsquo;O: If you had to choose just one show or event that represents the soul of the maison, what would it be?
SVF: Looking at the collection, you can see references to different decades and moments, but what I wanted to convey were the emotions I&rsquo;ve always felt, starting with a very small but symbolic act: My grandchildren, the fifth generation, opening a door that symbolizes the link between past and future, dressed in the same clothes I once wore. So for me, it was the introduction. The rest of the collection had to speak to the present and the future: men and women who were the quintessence of Fendi.&nbsp;
L&rsquo;O: You&rsquo;re part of one of the most emblematic Italian fashion families. How did you find your own voice within such a rich legacy?
SVF: It&rsquo;s an honor to have your name on the door, but it&rsquo;s also a responsibility. It means having to prove your worth twice over, especially now that Fendi is part of LVMH.
L&rsquo;O: You are the daughter of one of the original Fendi sisters, Anna, and the mother of jewelry designer Delfina Delettrez Fendi. What is it like to live this dual role&mdash;as both guardian and bridge between generations?
SVF: I&rsquo;ve always drawn inspiration from the women in my family, starting with my grandmother, Adele Casagrande Fendi, my mother, Anna, and her sisters. The line between work and private life is thin; they often blend. Many conversations took place&mdash;and continue to take place&mdash;in the living room at home. Conversely, I would visit my own mother in her atelier to spend time together, and my children have done the same with me.

L&rsquo;O: What is it like working alongside your daughter Delfina now that she leads the world of Fendi jewelry? Do you influence each other?
SVF: I really enjoy the open dialogue we have. Delfina&mdash;and my daughters in general&mdash;are the harshest critics, very outspoken, and I appreciate that. We always say that Delfina is a&ldquo;walking archive&rdquo; and I&rsquo;m a &ldquo;thinking archive.&rdquo; I love seeing pieces she&rsquo;s worn and reinterpreted. It inspires me. I feel I&rsquo;ve done my part in accompanying her on this creative journey, as she&rsquo;s carved out a path in a category that hadn&rsquo;t been widely explored by Fendi.
L&rsquo;O: What kind of professional relationship did you have with your mother, Anna, in your day-to-day work? Did you inherit her approach to creating or managing the maison?
SVF: My mother gave me a lot of freedom, leading more by example than with advice. I&rsquo;ve always seen her as a model of dedication, perseverance, and also lightness. What she asked of us daughters was to put maximum effort into everything we did, because she knew that compared to a man, we would always have to try harder.
L&rsquo;O: Your collaboration with Karl Lagerfeld has become legendary. What was your relationship like?
SVF: We had a very special relationship, based on mutual, sincere, and deep affection. We truly appreciated and respected each other. I remember the enthusiasm you could feel when you were around him. As a child, I quickly realized that he was very important to my mother: She devoted herself entirely to him, and when he was around, she would come home late.
L&rsquo;O: What were the most important professional lessons you learned from him during your collaboration?
SVF: Karl enriched me greatly, both personally and professionally. He had an extraordinary intelligence, always looking to the future, and hated the idea of repeating himself. For him, knowing the past was essential to writing the future. What struck me most was the fact that he never felt he had arrived. Even though he was aware of his talent, he constantly tried to prove to himself that he could do more. Every collection felt like the first.
L&rsquo;O: How did your personal relationship evolve over the years?
SVF: I was a child when we first met, and I think he always found it curious that a little girl could be so interested in atelier work. He was really part of the family. When we started working together, we engaged in constant dialogue, always asking each other&rsquo;s opinions on everything.&nbsp;

L&rsquo;O: How did your stylistic visions integrate, and how did you manage any creative differences?
SVF: He was in Paris and I was in Rome, so he&rsquo;d often communicate his ideas to us and then, when we met, he would check how we had interpreted them. We usually had a couple of days to pull everything together and make final selections; we kept making changes right up until the start of the show. People who came to see us knew they&rsquo;d always find something different, maybe even a surprise.
L&rsquo;O: What personal and professional legacy do you think Lagerfeld left&mdash;not just to Fendi, but also to you as a designer?
SVF: Professionally, he was a man of extraordinary intelligence. In certain moments when I need to listen to myself, I wonder, What would he have done?

L&rsquo;O: You&rsquo;re the creative mastermind behind some of the most iconic bags of our time. How did the Baguette&mdash;a symbol of an era and a true cult object&mdash;come about?
SVF: Something magical happened with the Baguette. I&rsquo;d say it&rsquo;s the kind of thing that only happens once in a lifetime. The day I designed that bag was a special one; the stars aligned. The Baguette is enchanting; it&rsquo;s an alchemical bag, an addiction. I consider it a manifesto of individualism, because it&rsquo;s always the same, but always different
L&rsquo;O: How did you feel when you saw the Baguette become a pop culture phenomenon, thanks to TV series like Sex and the City?
SVF: Sex and the City and Sarah Jessica Parker were incredibly important for the Baguette. The line &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not a bag; it&rsquo;s a baguette&rdquo; perfectly captures what this bag is&mdash;its strength, identity, and personality.

L&rsquo;O: What role do bags play today in fashion and in telling the story of a maison like Fendi?
SVF: All our bags are complementary in the Fendi story; each has its own strong personality. For example, with our iconic Spy bag, I love the idea that it&rsquo;s almost like a pillow&mdash;it gives you a sense of security. It&rsquo;s unstructured, soft, large, and now much more minimal. We&rsquo;ve enhanced its softness and lightness, while keeping a secret pocket. It&rsquo;s incredible how you can feel an emotional connection with a bag.
L&rsquo;O: Beyond the Baguette, styles like the Peekaboo have carved out an important place in fashion history. How is the idea for an iconic bag born, and what are some of the essential elements that make a bag timeless?
SVF: There are no precise rules or secret formulas for the perfect bag; things just happen, and often when you least expect them. The way we work at Fendi is very free and creative: We&rsquo;re constantly evolving and taking risks. We work freely, without looking at what others are doing. For me, creating a bag is not that different from designing a chair, or something that needs to be functional but also aesthetically valuable. I&rsquo;ma practical person, which also makes me realistic&mdash;especially when it comes to designing accessories.

Uma Thurman in Fendi, L’OFFICIEL No. 886 (2004)

L&rsquo;O: What&rsquo;s your creative process when designing a bag? Where do you start and what guides you?
SVF: I start with things that I find intellectually stimulating.I listen to myself, and I often change my mind; creativity is never a straight line. But if I&rsquo;m convinced, I keep going. Form, practicality is fundamental.
L&rsquo;O: Over the years, Fendi has developed an interesting dialogue with the world of art and design. How important is that kind of cross-disciplinary interaction, and how does exploring different media enrich your creative approach?
SVF: I find that fashion and art speak the same language&mdash;and design even more so, because it shares the idea of functionality. What I&rsquo;ve always found interesting is the balance&mdash;which I call &ldquo;alchemical&rdquo;&mdash;between creativity and functionality.&nbsp;

L&rsquo;O: Special projects have included those unveiled at Design Miami, the Palazzo della Civilt&agrave; Italiana, and installations in Rome. How did the relationship between Fendi and contemporary aesthetics come about?
SVF: Collaborating with different artists, designers, directors, and actors can shift perspectives and create something disruptive and unexpected. The boundaries between fashion, art, and design are increasingly blurred, and we love blending them.
L&rsquo;O: Over the years, Fendi has collaborated with designers and artists to create unique installations and objects, often inspired by Italian craftsmanship. What do you look for in these creative dialogues, and what added value do they bring to the brand?
SVF: At Fendi, we give artists complete freedom to conceptualize their creations. That&rsquo;s the only way to create diverse projects that are inspired by Fendi, but also reflective of the designer&rsquo;s own personality and talent.

L&rsquo;O: What values from the past remain fundamental for building Fendi&rsquo;s future?
SVF: We know what Fendi is; our heritage is strong and distinct. Our goal is to innovate while maintaining the Fendivision and preserving our unique traditions and craftsmanship, always adding a touch of fun.
L&rsquo;O: How do you imagine the concept of luxury will evolve in the coming years, and what role will Fendi play in that change?
SVF: I believe the success of luxury lies in the perfect balance between tradition and innovation. Brands with a strong yet evolving identity will thrive, especially in an era where consumers already have everything and younger generations are very focused on quality. The goal is to stay relevant.
L&rsquo;O: What is your wish for the next 100 years of Fendi?
SVF: I hope Fendi continues to be a place where tradition and experimentation coexist, preserving our identity while remaining open to change

Silvia Venturini Fendi Talks 100 Years of Fendi

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