REAL TALK

Fur was on the runways again. But should we be wearing it? One house has expertly maneuvered the nuances of this debate for a century.

- BY BRIDGET FOLEY PHOTOGRAPHS BY THOMAS STRAUB STYLED BY SILVIA PANCERI

The gleaming travertine façade of Rome's Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana bears an engraved tribute to the people of Italy: "A nation of poets, of artists, of heroes, of saints, of thinkers, of scientists, of navigators, of travelers."

Apart from the distinction of sainthood (the pope's alone to bestow), that litany of archetypes could describe the denizens of the palazzo's current owner, Fendi. Indeed, the ascent of the house to the pinnacle of global luxury took generations of artists, thinkers, navigators, and travelers of fashion's often thorny turf, and, if one considers the advanced Fendi technology, even scientists of a sort.

Fendi's 2015 acquisition of the building, a relic of Italy's fascist past, was a bold move. But audacity is a defining characteristic of the 100-year-old house. With an arched grandeur that alludes to one of antiquity's greatest structures, just a few miles away, "the Square Colosseum," as the palazzo is known, is an architectural expression of two elements central to the Fendi ethos: legacy and currency.

Such are the essential, if often conflicting, pillars of longevity in the mercurial world of fashion, where staying power is won not only by mastering the competitive challenges of business but also by adapting to ever changing standards of style as determined by the zeitgeist—and still remaining true to a core identity. Fendi has done this magnificently throughout its history, and nowhere was this on more triumphant display than at Silvia Venturini Fendi's fall 2025 show, which marked the brand's 100th anniversary.