On July 9, FENDI did more than present its Fall/Winter 2026 to 2027 Haute Couture collection. The Roman house transformed Maria Grazia Chiuri’s first couture presentation into a broader cultural statement, marking the beginning of a new creative chapter while celebrating the legacy of Karl Lagerfeld, whose vision shaped FENDI for more than five decades.
For the occasion, the house returned to Rome, where it was founded in 1925 and where its identity remains deeply rooted. Staged at the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, the presentation placed the city at the centre of the narrative. Rome was not simply the setting. It became the lens through which the collection, the house’s history and its future could be understood.
A new couture chapter
Maria Grazia Chiuri’s debut marked more than a change in creative direction. Returning to her hometown after nearly ten years at Dior, she introduced a vision shaped by Rome’s artistic and cultural heritage while questioning the place fashion occupies within Italy’s cultural institutions.
In the weeks leading up to the presentation, Chiuri spoke about what she sees as a longstanding contradiction. Although Italy has played a defining role in the history of fashion, the discipline has rarely received the same institutional recognition as painting, architecture or sculpture. Presenting Haute Couture inside one of Rome’s leading museums therefore carried a significance that extended beyond the runway. It positioned fashion as an artistic practice capable of contributing to wider conversations about culture, history and creativity.
Honouring Karl Lagerfeld’s legacy
That dialogue between past and present continued through a tribute to Karl Lagerfeld, whose collaboration with FENDI began in 1965 and became one of the longest creative partnerships in fashion.
Alongside the couture presentation, the house opened After – A Work Journey. Fendi / Karl Lagerfeld 1985. After Steps Through Work, an exhibition running from July 10 to October 25, 2026. Rather than revisiting Lagerfeld’s work through a conventional retrospective, the exhibition explored his creative process and returned to his landmark 1985 presentation, highlighting the ideas that continue to shape FENDI today.
The timing felt deliberate. At a moment when creative leadership across luxury fashion is changing rapidly, FENDI chose to present its future in conversation with one of the figures who defined its past. Heritage was treated as a living source of inspiration rather than a chapter to preserve unchanged.
Rome as a creative language
That relationship with the city extended into the collection itself. Instead of drawing directly from historical costume or Roman monuments, Chiuri translated the character of Rome through construction, material and proportion.
Long capes, fluid tailoring, delicate lace and restrained colours reflected an approach centred on craftsmanship rather than ornament. Sculptural silhouettes echoed the city’s architecture without becoming literal references, allowing the collection to express Rome’s identity through atmosphere rather than illustration.
The result was measured rather than theatrical. It suggested that Haute Couture can communicate through precision and technique as powerfully as through decoration.
Beyond the runway
The presentation also reflected a broader shift in how luxury houses choose to stage their most significant collections. While Paris remains the institutional home of Haute Couture, landmark presentations increasingly take place in locations that reinforce a maison’s own history and identity.
For FENDI, Rome provides something no other city could. It represents more than a century of craftsmanship, family heritage and Italian savoir faire. By pairing the collection with a museum exhibition dedicated to Karl Lagerfeld, the house expanded the event beyond the runway, connecting fashion with art, preservation and cultural memory.
Increasingly, couture presentations are becoming part of larger cultural programmes where architecture, exhibitions and local identity play a role equal to the collection itself. FENDI embraced that approach without allowing it to overshadow the clothes.
Rooted in continuity
Maria Grazia Chiuri’s first Haute Couture collection for FENDI introduced a new creative direction without relying on rupture. Instead, it suggested that continuity can be just as meaningful as reinvention.
On July 9, the house presented more than a couture collection. It demonstrated how craftsmanship, heritage and contemporary creativity can exist within the same conversation, using Rome not simply as the venue, but as the foundation of its message.
May