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<\/div>\nFashion loves nothing more than a debut. And the key one from LVMH was in Milan<\/a> last week, with Maria Grazia Chiuri now at the helm of Fendi.<\/p>\n Probably the most important feminist designer working today, Chiuri is known for working with female artists, craftspeople, and collaborators, and prized for turning the brands she leads into commercial hits.<\/p>\n In 2008, she and Pierpaolo Piccioli took over at Valentino, growing the business threefold in just seven years. Subsequently she was named the couturier of Christian Dior, tripling revenues to \u20ac10bn (approx. $11.7bn) before departing last year.<\/p>\n After a brief break, when she opened her own pocket theater in Rome<\/a> across the street from the ancient capital or Campidoglio, she was appointed creative director of Fendi, LVMH\u2019s most famous marque in Italy.<\/p>\n The world\u2019s most influential fur brand, famed for inventing knitted fur and the Baguette bag, Fendi is the luxury goods label of Rome, its facing double F logo invented by Karl Lagerfeld who was there for some 60 years until his passing. LVMH chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault acquired Fendi in a series of deals over a few years for around \u20ac800m (approx. $938m). Underlining the importance of Chiuri\u2019s debut, Arnault was present with his wife, Helen, as was LVMH Fashion Group CEO Pietro Beccari<\/a>.<\/p>\n See also: The Up and Coming Designers to Watch from London Fashion Week<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n Fendi, which celebrated its centenary last year, has created the clothes for Once Upon a Time in America, Evita, and The Royal Tenebaums. The brand\u2019s continued pulling power was evident from the front row, where Uma Thurman and Monica Bellucci joined Iris Law and Korean-Australian superstar Bang Chan. All of them wearing Fendi looks designed by Chiuri.<\/p>\n How did Chiuri perform? Admirably. The Rome-born designer showed softer shapes and silhouettes for both men and women, with matching blazers. \u201cI wanted one wardrobe, not two,\u201d she said in an exclusive pre-show interview with Elite Traveler<\/em>.<\/p>\n Above all, she took the skills she’d learned at Valentino and Dior and injecting them into a new seductive Latin look at Fendi \u2013 some 70 percent of the collection was in black.<\/p>\n \u201cI am tired of looking at colors on Instagram,\u201d she told me. \u201cFashion is not entertainment. Fashion is a job. I am a worker in fashion. So, I want to do clothes that the people love to use. I don’t want to do entertainment.\u201d<\/p>\n She also placed big cats \u2013 lions and leopards \u2013 on mink scarves and stoles, which also read \u201cSisters.\u201d Expect that look to ignite a major trend, just as her fabric totes for Dior became worldwide best-sellers. And don\u2019t forget that her rock-stud shoes and bags boosted Valentino from a sleepy couture house to a billion-euro marque. Chiuri is known for taking risks. Early shows at Dior celebrated the student marches of 1968 and militant feminism of that decade, appalling many bourgeois Parisians. But when the Me Too movement suddenly emerged, Chiuri\u2019s stance seemed prescient. And brilliantly timed.<\/p>\n![\"maria](\"https:\/\/elitetraveler.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/03\/maria-grazia-churi-fendi-edited.jpg\")
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