French-Japanese Fusion Informs Fendi Fall Couture

An intersection of past and future, alongside a ‘French Japonisme,’ underlie the vision behind Fendi’s Couture Autumn/Winter 2022 collection.

Stepping away from the brand’s more customary Italianate grandiosity, this season is all about understated simplicity—a sense of lightness and luminosity that are both accessible and empowering for the wearer.

The collection features traditional Japanese techniques with subtle Art Deco lines and Italian tailoring, envisioned through a contemporary lens.

“I wanted to step away from Rome, or at least I wanted to place Rome in a global context. In this collection, we’re looking at fragments of different cities, namely Kyoto, Paris, and Rome,” says Fendi’s artistic director Kim Jones.

One of the featured techniques of the collection is Kata Yuzen, a Japanese hand printing and painting technique that has remained unchanged for centuries. Traditional Japanese fabrics are also used as underpinnings and beautiful garment linings.