“Less I, more us” was written across the runway at Fendi’s Milan headquarters as Maria Grazia Chiuri unveiled her long-awaited first collection for the House. It was a simple statement, but it set the tone. After seasons of transition — from Kim Jones’ departure to the centenary collections led by Silvia Venturini Fendi — this felt like a reset.

Chiuri opened with 17 black looks. For a brand long associated with bold colour and texture — especially during the decades under Karl Lagerfeld — it was a noticeable shift. But the point wasn’t the absence of colour, but rather an emphasis on shape. There were sharply cut black suits, a buttoned day dress layered under a relaxed jacket, and long, fluid skirts that skimmed the ankle. Lace dresses and laser-cut leather pieces clung to the body with precision, while shirt collars appeared on their own at the neckline, detached from where a shirt would normally be. The black itself came in textures rather than tones — matte wool, glossy leather, sheer lace — giving depth without disrupting the mood.

When colour did appear — from flowing gowns in ivory and red, to an animal print jacket — it felt deliberate rather than excessive. Accessories also provided a welcome pop of interest, with monochrome looks punctuated by multi-coloured baguettes or tiger print stilettos. But nothing distracted your eye from the cut of the garment for too long, to the way a sleeve gently flowed, or a skirt moved as the model walked. The effect, as Chiuri described in her notes, was a wardrobe that places emphasis on the bodies that wear it; with focus trained on silhouette and movement.

The show was co-ed, with men and women walking side by side in variations of tailoring, outerwear and eveningwear. Rather than separating wardrobes, Chiuri blended them. Masculine and feminine felt less like opposites and more like shared qualities,  — recalling the "us" emblazoned across the runway. As the show notes explained, "Feminine and masculine cease to be categories of opposition and become adjectives used to describe shared qualities. Man and woman walk the runway together to overcome the distinction between the male and female wardrobe. To go back to thinking of clothes as matters of everyday existence."

Overall, that's exactly what Chiuri's debut did. Instead of leaning on Fendi’s reputation for exuberance, she tapped into a more subtle kind of confidence, delivering us a wardrobe built around how it feels to wear it.