Published
February 25, 2026
The big cat is back at Fendi. Where Maria Grazia Chiuri staged a formidably clever and very contemporary collection for the Roman house on Wednesday in Milan.
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Fendi – Fall-Winter2026 – 2027 – Womenswear – Italie – Milan – ©Launchmetrics/spotlight
Arguably the most influential women’s designer of the past decade thanks to her reigns at Valentino and then Dior, Chiuri is already working her magic at Fendi in a seriously chic collection that will win legions of fans among women and men.
The collection marked a return to the house for Chiuri, who began her career there back in 1989. Later becoming joint creative director of Valentino with Pierpaolo Piccioli in 1999, and achieving global fame. This collection clearly riffed on her days there working in Rome with the famous five Fendi sisters- Paola, Anna, Franca, Carla, and Alda.
“They were my mentors. They gave me my career. And I felt part of their teamwork. I would like people to remember all that they created at Fendi. It’s about time we mentioned someone else besides Karl Lagerfeld,” she noted in a pre-show interview.
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Fendi – Fall-Winter2026 – 2027 – Womenswear – Italie – Milan – ©Launchmetrics/spotlight
Underlining her point, the runway was completed in a bold stencil print- one-meter-high- which read: Less I, More Us. It was Maria Grazia’s motto for her debut collection.
Chiuri’s experience as a couturier at Dior was also apparent in her great use of the haute fourrure atelier at Fendi, sending out some great new parkas, lined or trimmed in astrakhan; a striking camouflage intarsia blouson; rockstar wolf peacoats and the Baguette bag she helped invent in psychedelic mink or flecked anthracite fox.
Musing on how the five Fendi sisters regarded fur as such a precious product they used every scrap, Chiuri completed Perspex heeled booties and a series of wing-collar necklaces with dashes of fox.
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Fendi – Fall-Winter2026 – 2027 – Womenswear – Italie – Milan – ©Launchmetrics/spotlight
Another key element was the manner in which the Rome-born designer mimicked the soft fluidity of fur, with a softer shapes and silhouettes in the ready-to-wear- for both men and women. Showing the crispest of tailoring with almost identical blazers for guys and girls.
“I wanted one wardrobe, not two,” she smiled.
Chiuri also played with some of her signature ideas from Dior, like calf-length skirts and but with a tougher, sexier twist, composing them décolleté in risqué lace, perforated leather, or sheer black silk.
Her injection of street style didn’t quite work, whether the muddied yellow biker jacket or a couple in faded double denim. Though their footwear certainly did- one expects the mock zebra boots to also be commercial successes.
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Fendi – Fall-Winter2026 – 2027 – Womenswear – Italie – Milan – ©Launchmetrics/spotlight
This season, Maris Grazia’s love of teamwork expressed itself in a linkup with Mirella Bentivoglio, creating limited-edition jewellery, from ideas first dreamed up in the 1970s. As well as a series of tops playing with the artist’s double-entendre lettering style, such as NOIa or (Noi/Noia) meaning we and boredom. Or foulard folle, meaning the crazy scarf. In a generous touch, Fendi will help finance the preservation of Bentivoglio’s archive.
Underlining the brand’s importance to the group, luxury emperor Bernard Arnault sat front row with his wife Hélène at the show.
Throughout, Chiuri worked with a very sombre palette, oodles of black, midnight blue, dark green, a touch of grey and red, and a little ivory.
“I think we must be pragmatic. I am tired of looking at colours in Instagram. Fashion is not entertainment. Fashion is a job. I am at that kind of designer. I am a worker in fashion. So, I want to [create] clothes that the people love to use. I don’t want to do entertainment. I want the real thing,” sniffed the tigerish couturier.
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Fendi – Fall-Winter2026 – 2027 – Womenswear – Italie – Milan – ©Launchmetrics/spotlight
Whose big cats- lions and leopards- also appeared on a great series of mink scarves and stoles, which also read “Sisters”- that seem destined to be huge hits. Made in another savvy collaboration with artist SAGG Napoli, with whom Chiuri already partnered with on her Diane The Hunter collection for Dior, a sister brand within the giant luxury conglomerate LVMH. Though this was a far more seductive collation than anything she dreamed up in Paris.
And real is certainly what she produced. A bona fide hit collection, restoring coherence to Fendi after several years of drift.
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