For Maria Grazia Chiuri, the starting point for Fendi's spring summer 2027 collection was the body. It was a thesis that was clear from the outset – with an invitation that read simply, “I like my body when it is with your body.” The line, borrowed from an E.E. Cummings poem, set the tone for a collection concerned with intimacy, and the ways clothing can both reveal and transform the body beneath it.
Contradiction was also central to Chiuri's third – and second ready-to-wear – collection for the house. Pieces traditionally associated with private life, or perhaps more specifically the bedroom, were brought into the everyday – underwear became outerwear, and sheer layers revealed glimpses of skin. At the same time, heavier velvets and furs brought weight and structure to the collection. The tension continued in the styling, where glossy fabrics and airy lace met matte finishes, while silk slips peeked out beneath heavier outerwear.
Accessories – fur stoles, Baguettes in seemingly every beaded iteration, and jewel-encrusted heels – brought their own sense of glamour, further blurring the lines between what is considered private and public dress. At Fendi, there was little interest in following the rules.
Chiuri's work is no stranger to championing femininity, but here she found a particular expression of it in Raffaella Carrà, the iconic Italian singer, dancer and television personality. Carrà's influence was felt in the collection's more playful, revealing moments, recalling the exuberance of her stage costumes and the uninhibited spirit that made her such a beloved figure in Italian pop culture. A fitting muse for a collection that treated dressing as something to be enjoyed, rather than prescribed.
The body became the subject of the show itself, reflected back through a runway lined with mirrors. Inspired by Luciano Fabro's 'Cubo di specchi', the set multiplied the models as they moved through the space, catching fragments of the clothes – and the people watching them – from every angle. The effect was a runway that turned the act of dressing into something at once intimate and shared.
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