Silvia Venturini Fendi is not leaving Fendi: she is changing roles
To speak of Silvia Venturini Fendi requires a crucial nuance today. The designer is not definitively turning the page on Fendi.
On September 29, 2025, the House announced that she would become Honorary President of Fendi, effective October 1.Her mission evolved: she would now contribute to preserving and promoting the House's heritage, its expertise, its history, and the Fendi Casa.
This evolution marks the end of an exceptional operational career at the company's inception, but not the end of the bond between Silvia Venturini Fendi and the family business, of which she represents the third generation. The transition is therefore less a rupture than a passing of the torch. And this comes at a symbolic moment: 2025 marked Fendi's 100th anniversary.
Fendi, a Roman fashion house founded in 1925
The story begins in Rome. In 1925, Adele Casagrande and Edoardo Fendi founded the House and opened their first boutique dedicated to bags and fur work.
A century later, the codes of this origin remain fundamental: leather, saddlery, craftsmanship, experimentation with materials, Roman elegance, and family tradition. This continuity partly explains why the change in creative direction has such particular significance.
Fendi is not just a brand whose designer can change the codes with each cycle. Its identity is based on several generations of women, on workshops and on objects that have become iconic.
Silvia Venturini Fendi is situated precisely at the intersection of these two dimensions: heir to the House and creator of part of its contemporary vocabulary.
From Karl Lagerfeld to Silvia Venturini Fendi: more than thirty years at the heart of creation
Silvia Venturini Fendi joined Karl Lagerfeld in 1992. 's creative team From 1994 , she took charge of accessories and then menswear. She worked with Lagerfeld until his death in 2019, after a 54-year collaboration between him and Fendi. This longevity gives her a unique position. Silvia Venturini Fendi has experienced several Fendi eras: the family Fendi, the Fendi of Karl Lagerfeld , and the international expansion within LVMH , which became the majority shareholder in 2001.
Then came the Kim Jones years, before she also took over responsibility for the women's collections for the centenary. She thus ensured a rare form of continuity in an industry accustomed to rapid turnover of artistic directors.
The Baguette: the gesture that changed Fendi's history
If only one object from Silvia Venturini Fendi's work could be chosen, it would probably be the Baguette.
Created in 1997, the bag is now presented by Fendi as its first true "It-bag". Its compact shape is designed to be carried under the arm, hence its name which refers to the French baguette.
Its strength lies in a simple idea: to maintain an immediately identifiable silhouette while allowing materials, embroidery, colors and collaborations to reinvent it.
Some versions require several hours of embroidery and thousands of beads or sequins. The Baguette thus becomes simultaneously a commercial product, a craft medium, and a creative platform. This logic explains its longevity. Where a trendy product must constantly be replaced, a true icon can be reinterpreted.
Luxe Daily had already dedicated an article to the phenomenon surrounding the bag and its digital variations.
Baguette and Peekaboo: two iconic designs by Silvia Venturini Fendi
Silvia Venturini Fendi's contribution to leather goods doesn't stop with the Baguette. She also created the Peekaboo in 2008 .
LVMH officially presents the Baguette and the Peekaboo today as two timeless bags born from its creativity and the Maison's expertise. This ability to create durable accessories is strategic.
In the luxury industry, iconic bags fulfill several functions at once. They generate revenue, provide a gateway into the brand, give a face to craftsmanship, and create continuity between generations of customers.
For the new creative direction, the challenge is therefore not only to preserve the Baguette or the Peekaboo. They will also have to imagine the next Fendi icon.
Selleria: the true artisanal DNA of Fendi
The other historical pillar of the House has a name: Selleria. The term comes directly from Italian saddlery.
Fendi explains that its first Selleria topstitching dates back to 1925, when Roman master saddlers passed on their technique to Adele and Edoardo Fendi.
A century later, artisans continue to use hand-stitched Cuoio Romano. Some pieces come with a sterling silver plaque bearing a unique serial number and the date 1925. This continuity is a considerable asset at a time when luxury brands are seeking to better justify their prices. A heritage brand can no longer simply rely on "craftsmanship."
Silvia's last great creative chapter: the Fendi centenary
In February 2025, Silvia Venturini Fendi orchestrated the Autumn-Winter 2025-2026, designed to celebrate the House's 100th anniversary. The men's and women's collections were combined.
Rather than literally reproducing the archives, the designer works from personal memories, real or imagined, to connect the past and the future.
The setting evokes the historic salons of Via Borgognona in Rome, associated with the five Fendi sisters. The collection brings together several fundamental elements of the house vocabulary: tailoring, leather, Selleria, transformed fur, Baguette, Peekaboo, and artisanal experimentation.
New models, such as the Fendi Giano and Fendi Lui, are also introduced. This show acts almost as a synthesis.
Before moving on to another role, Silvia Venturini Fendi gathers a hundred years of memory to remind us what Fendi must preserve when it changes.
Spring-Summer 2026: Silvia Venturini Fendi's latest vision
A few days before the announcement of her new role, Silvia Venturini Fendi also presented the Spring-Summer 2026 collections .
The collection combines feminine and masculine silhouettes, polychromatic colors, airy knits, perforated leathers, transparency, and embroidery. LVMH describes a wardrobe in which apparent simplicity masks a great complexity of construction. This point aptly summarizes part of its heritage. At Fendi, exuberance must never overshadow technical skill. And technical skill must never make the garment feel heavy.
Roman luxury, according to Silvia Venturini Fendi, remains a matter of controlled contradictions: seriousness and humor, architecture and flexibility, heritage and irreverence.
Maria Grazia Chiuri succeeds Silvia Venturini Fendi
The uncertainty ultimately lasted only two weeks. On October 14, 2025, LVMH officially announced the appointment of Maria Grazia Chiuri as Chief Creative Officer of Fendi. The choice is particularly symbolic.
Maria Grazia Chiuri isn't discovering Fendi for the first time. She's returning. The designer herself explains that she began her professional journey with the five Fendi sistersbefore continuing her career at Valentino and then Dior. Her arrival thus forms a particularly powerful circle: a family-run fashion house founded and developed by women welcomes to its creative director a woman whose career began in its ateliers. Luxe Daily analyzed this appointment as soon as it was officially announced.
A new organization around Maria Grazia Chiuri and Ramon Ros
The creative shift is accompanied by a renewal of the top management. On July 1, 2025, Ramon Ros becomes CEO of Fendi.
LVMH then highlighted its expertise in luxury retail and clienteling, acquired notably at Louis Vuitton in mainland China, as well as its experience in developing brand desirability. The sequence of appointments is therefore particularly clear:
Ramon Ros will lead the strategy, retail, and customer relations. Maria Grazia Chiuri will oversee the creative vision. Silvia Venturini Fendi will protect and pass on the legacy in her role as Honorary President.
Fendi thus offers itself three levels of governance around the same problem: how to transform one hundred years of history into contemporary desire?
“Meno io, più noi”: Maria Grazia Chiuri’s first Fendi
The first response arrives with the Autumn-Winter 2026-2027. Maria Grazia Chiuri adopts a motto that resembles both a creative program and a management statement:
“Meno io, più noi” – “less I, more we”. The phrase reaffirms the value of collective work, closely linked to the history of the five Fendi sisters.
This choice is particularly interesting in an industry that has long built its narratives around the solitary genius of the art director. Maria Grazia Chiuri offers almost the opposite.
At Fendi, the designer must not let the House disappear behind his name. He must orchestrate the workshops, the archives, the artisans, and the different generations.
A first collection blending rigor, sensuality, and memory
For this first fashion show, male and female silhouettes appeared together.
Black dominates. Sensuality is built through lace, flowing dresses, transparencies and the relationship to the body, while white collars, animal prints and military references create visual tensions .
A system called "Echo of Love" allows for the transformation of old furs into new pieces. This initiative has strong symbolic significance.
Fendi does not reject a material that has historically been central to its history. Rather, the House is experimenting with a way of circulating it through time. The past becomes the raw material of the present.
Archives, but no nostalgia
This is probably one of the most difficult challenges facing Maria Grazia Chiuri. The new Fendi cannot live solely off its archives. But neither can it ignore them.
The House possesses a hundred years of objects, techniques and images: Baguette, Peekaboo, Selleria, FF, Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, fur, leather, Roman workshops, Karl Lagerfeld and family history.
The cultural potential is immense. The challenge lies in avoiding two pitfalls. The first would be a literal repetition of the past. The second would be such a radical break that Fendi would become unrecognizable. Working with the archives already represents a significant editorial challenge for the House.
Sustainability at Fendi: commitments that can now be quantified
The initial text generally referred to a "responsible shift." Official sources now allow for much greater precision.
Fendi structures its environmental policy around several themes: responsible materials, circularity, supply chain traceability, product conformity, waste reduction and longevity.
Most importantly, certain indicators become public.
By 2025, 81% of the textiles used by Fendi were certified according to the main existing social and environmental standards, according to the fashion house. This figure is far more meaningful than a vague phrase about "eco-responsibility." It allows us to track progress and, therefore, potentially hold them accountable.
Bananatex and organic cotton: material innovation enters the first Chiuri collection
The Autumn-Winter 2026-2027 collection also provides a concrete example of this research.
Fendi presents a denim combining organic cotton and Bananatex® abaca fibers, designed with Berto Industria Tessile.
The House describes this development as the convergence of organic materials, technical innovation, and more responsible practices. The focus goes beyond the material itself. Eco-responsibility is integrated into the creative work of the new management team from its very first collection. This is a significant evolution.
In the luxury sector, sustainability becomes truly credible when it ceases to be a peripheral capsule and enters into the normal design process.
Circularity: Fendi also works on existing stocks and materials
Circularity is another well-documented area of focus.
Fendi explains that it is working on the reuse, recycling and recovery of materials from the end of production.
The House collaborates in particular with Nona Source, a platform launched by LVMH to recirculate unused fabrics, leathers and other materials from the stocks of the Group's Houses.
Its stated ambition for 2026 is to be able to give new life to all of its raw materials that have reached the end of their stock through recycling, reuse or donation.
The logic is consistent with an industry where the most valuable resources can no longer be considered disposable.
Repair: Fendi transforms after-sales service into a tool for circularity
One of the most interesting pieces of information concerns repairs. Fendi indicates that its global network of boutiques can organize repair and restoration services for its products, regardless of their date or place of purchase.
The company claims to repair and restore several thousand items worldwide each year.
This approach is particularly relevant for a brand known for its bags. A luxury bag that can be restored after ten or twenty years has a different value than a product designed solely for its initial sale.
Fendi even developed the Peekaboo Spa in 2021, then expanded the concept to the Baguette in 2024 under the name Icons Spa.
Sustainability then becomes intertwined with customer experience.
Taking care of an icon helps to preserve both the product, the relationship with its owner, and the cultural value of the House.
Beware of certified second-hand goods
One point in the original text, however, deserves correction. To date, the official sources consulted clearly document repair, restoration, reuse of materials, maintenance and circularity, but not a generalized Fendi certified second-hand comparable to an official resale program operated directly by the House.
Customer experience: appointments, advisors and remote purchases
The new Fendi era isn't just about the catwalk. The House is also developing its services around a more personalized relationship. On its French website, Fendi offers personalized appointments in-store or remotely with a client advisor, as well as remote shopping and various premium services.
This dimension directly relates to Ramon Ros's expertise in clienteling. For a high-priced brand, the experience must extend the product's value. The consultant's availability, their knowledge of the piece, the after-sales follow-up, and the ability to arrange repairs all become elements of luxury service.
Hand in Hand: Transforming the Baguette into a manifesto of Italian know-how
The Hand in Hand program is one of the most compelling examples of how Fendi can reinvent an icon without trivializing it. The House invited workshops and artisans representing different Italian regions to reinterpret the Baguette using their own local expertise. Each creation thus becomes a handcrafted work of art , produced in a very limited series. The strategic benefit is twofold.
Fendi maintains the desirability of the Baguette while shifting the conversation from the simple logo to the technical aspects. This is precisely what many luxury brands are seeking today: to explain why a product deserves to exist.
Fendi Casa: Why Silvia remains strategic
Silvia Venturini Fendi's new role explicitly includes promoting Fendi Casa. This is not a minor detail.
Design and decoration allow luxury brands to extend their language beyond clothing. Fendi Casa already collaborates with contemporary designers and reinterprets the House's codes, including the stitching, Cuoio Romano leather, the Selleria collection, and the FF motif. In her role as Honorary President, Silvia can therefore become a kind of guarantor of Fendi's cultural coherence. The clothing design process is changing hands. The family spirit remains.
Maria Grazia Chiuri's four challenges at Fendi
To preserve an immediately recognizable Roman identity
Fendi possesses a very strong cultural geography. Rome is not simply a marketing backdrop. It nourishes the architecture, the colors, the relationship to monumentality, and the personality of the House. Maria Grazia Chiuri will have to leverage this identity without falling into cliché.
Create the icons after Baguette and Peekaboo
Two iconic bags are a strength. But a House cannot live forever on just two successes. The ability to create a new, instantly recognizable product will be one of the best indicators of success in this new era.
Transforming know-how into understandable value
Hand-stitched Selleria leather, restoration work, embroidery, and innovative materials are all elements that can justify the value of luxury. But they must be showcased. The story of craftsmanship must become tangible rather than merely decorative.
Make sustainability a proven fact, not a promise
81% of textiles certified by 2025, reuse of stocks, repair services and material innovation are verifiable starting points.
The next steps will need to be measured over time. This is how Fendi can transform sustainability into an element of trust rather than a mere advertising ploy.
Fendi under Maria Grazia Chiuri: more than just a change of artistic director
The transition between Silvia Venturini Fendi and Maria Grazia Chiuri ultimately tells a broader story about the evolution of luxury. A few years ago, a change in creative direction was primarily analyzed from the perspective of clothing.
Today, it also engages with the product, accessories, materials, heritage, retail, cultural collaborations, sustainability and customer relations.
At Fendi, this transformation is particularly visible because family history remains very present. Maria Grazia Chiuri is not starting from scratch. She is inheriting a century.
Silvia Venturini Fendi is not disappearing: she is becoming Honorary President and guardian of the legacy. Ramon Ros brings a culture of retail and clienteling. And the new creative direction responds with a surprisingly apt formula: less "I," more "we."
Why is the new Fendi era worth following?
Maria Grazia Chiuri 's first collection already reveals several directions: a return to the collective, the centrality of Italian craftsmanship , the reuse of certain materials, textile experimentation, dialogue with artists, and a renewal of both women's and men's wardrobes. Luxe Daily is already following this new period, particularly through the relationship between couture, art, and Roman heritage.
The question is no longer: who will replace Silvia Venturini Fendi? That has been decided. The real question is now much more interesting: what will Maria Grazia Chiuri do with the legacy that Silvia Venturini Fendi is passing on to her?
If the House manages to preserve the power of its icons while generating new objects of desire, making its craftsmanship more visible, and providing tangible evidence of its environmental transformation, Fendi can turn its centenary into a true starting point. A new century. Still Roman. Still artisanal. But with a new perspective.
FAQ – Silvia Venturini Fendi and Fendi's new creative direction
Did Silvia Venturini Fendi leave Fendi?
No. She has stepped down from her operational creative leadership role but has held the position of Honorary President of Fendi since October 1, 2025.She continues to support the House's heritage, its craftsmanship, and Fendi Casa.
Who is the new artistic director of Fendi?
Maria Grazia Chiuri was appointed Chief Creative Officer of Fendi on October 14, 2025.She returned to the House where she began her career.
When did Maria Grazia Chiuri present her first Fendi collection?
Her first collection is Fendi Autumn-Winter 2026-2027, presented in Milan and officially detailed by LVMH on March 5, 2026.
Who designed the Fendi Baguette bag?
The Baguette bag was created by Silvia Venturini Fendi in 1997.Fendi now presents it as its first "It-bag".
Who created the Peekaboo?
The Peekaboo, another iconic Fendi bag, was created by Silvia Venturini Fendi in 2008.
What is Selleria Fendi?
Selleria refers to a leatherworking tradition dating back to 1925, characterized in particular by hand-stitched seams made using techniques inspired by Roman master saddlers .
Does Fendi repair its old bags?
Yes. Fendi states that it offers repair and restoration services through its international network of boutiques and claims to restore several thousand products each year.
Is Fendi committed to sustainable fashion?
The House is developing various initiatives focusing on materials, traceability, circularity, reuse, and product longevity. By 2025, Fendi indicated that 81% of its textile materials were certified according to the main existing social and environmental standards.
3 official French sources
- LVMH – Silvia Venturini Fendi has been appointed Honorary President of Fendi, official press release published on September 29, 2025.See
the official LVMH source. - LVMH – Maria Grazia Chiuri appointed Chief Creative Officer of Fendi, official press release published on October 14, 2025.See
the official appointment of Maria Grazia Chiuri. - Fendi France – Fendi Selleria since 1925, official presentation of the history of Selleria, Cuoio Romano, and the House's artisanal expertise.
Consult the official Fendi France source.
