Fendi was born in Rome in 1925, and Rome keeps calling it back, shaping the Maison’s identity across generations. That relationship returns to the forefront this season as the Fendi Couture FW27 show lands in the Eternal City on the evening of July 9, at the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, near Villa Borghese.
This is the third time the Maison stages couture on its own turf. Karl Lagerfeld opened at the Trevi Fountain in 2016. Silvia Venturini Fendi took over the Temple of Venus in 2019. Now, Maria Grazia Chiuri steps in, on ground that already carries the weight of what came before.
Maria Grazia Chiuri Comes Full Circle in Rome
Maria Grazia Chiuri grew up in Rome. She started her career at Fendi in 1989 and returns thirty six years later as Chief Creative Officer, appointed in October 2025. She closed her chapter at Dior here too, staging a final show at the Villa Albani Torlonia in May 2025. This moment draws a clear line across her career, from entry to return, anchored in the same city.
Her Fendi FW2026 Ready To Wear debut in Milan set the tone. The collection leaned quiet, sober, and crafted, a reset from Fendi’s traditionally vibrant Italian glamour. Critics noted the construction. Some looked for a stronger expression of the Maison’s DNA. Couture, this season, is where she answers.
The answer sits inside the ateliers. Fendi’s couture ateliers run on a century of fur mastery, and Maria Grazia Chiuri moves them forward with precision. She introduced an upcycling program that reworks archival furs into singular couture pieces, one of the defining moves of her early tenure. Those ateliers now return with her to Rome, where craft and city align, and where couture carries the answer.
After, A Work Journey. Fendi / Karl Lagerfeld 1985
The show accompanies the inauguration of After, A Work Journey. Fendi / Karl Lagerfeld 1985, open to the public from July 10 to October 25, 2026 at the same venue. The title is a deliberate historical reference, revisiting the archival exhibition held at the Galleria Nazionale in 1985, which celebrated the collaboration between the Maison and Lagerfeld at its peak. The institution houses nearly 20,000 works spanning from Neoclassicism to the contemporary avant-garde, founded in 1883 and installed in its current home since 1915.
