Channel Your Inner Maximalist With The Fendace Collaboration

At Milan Fashion Week last Sept, two luxury giants revealed a surprise that upended the industry’s established order: the artistic directors of Fendi and Versace had swapped roles and put their take on the other house’s codes and archival signatures. We show how this historical endeavour nicknamed Fendace lets you shine in the most glamorous ways.

By Gordon Ng, 19 May 2022

The Fendace concept marks what’s said to be the first time in which two fashion brands, each owned by a different conglomerate (Fendi is part of the LVMH group, while Capri Holdings acquired Versace in 2018), have so-called “crossed party lines”.

The late designers of both houses, Gianni Versace and Karl Lagerfeld, were good friends, while Fendi’s current women’s wear artistic director Kim Jones describes the exchange as “the beauty of togetherness.”

Fendi’s Baguette Trunk Mini bag flaunts Versace's signature safety pin hardware.
Fendi

The results are a whole lot of fun with pieces bearing the hallmarks of both labels, making it hard to discern their source. For example, Fendi’s Baguette Trunk Mini bag comes with a chunky chain strap and oversized safety pin – both elements better associated with Versace. Likewise, the show’s opening look, a slinky black dress that Lagerfeld made a Fendi staple, is accented by more safety pin-shaped hardware and Versace-esque cut-outs.

It ain't a Versace tie-up without Baroque prints.
Fendi

One of Silvia Venturini Fendi and Kim Jones’ key inspirations for Fendace was Versace’s va-va-voom heyday in the ’90s – an era synonymous with supermodels (a term and category practically invented by Gianni Versace) and empowering sensuality.

So naturally, their Versace By Fendi line-up leans towards micro-short, form-fitting evening and party-centric looks. More day-friendly options include swimsuits, bomber jackets, and a cropped
blouson, all splashed with a mash-up of Baroque prints and the FF logo – and Fendi’s Midas touch at making wearable pieces feel and look utterly luxurious.

Fendi's Sunshine shopper gets the gilded glamour effect for its handles.
Fendi

The two Italian powerhouses have melded each other’s iconography with good humour – Fendi’s FF logo combined with just about every signature Versace emblem. Take how it’s been incorporated into Versace’s famous safety pin hardware – the results looking serendipitously like a variation of the O’Lock, a carabiner-shaped line designed by Fendi creative director of jewellery Delfina Delettrez Fendi introduced last year.

Likewise, monogrammed fabrics have been overlaid with Barocco prints and Greek key motifs are punctuated with double Fs – see the Sunshine shopper (yes, as part of Fendace, it sports gilded handles too).

Scroll on for a peep at what's available in stores now.