Motifs discovered at Charleston farmhouse – the Sussex home of the Bloomsbury set, located only a short distance from where Jones spent much of his childhood – are revived and recontextualised through ornately beaded boots and hand-painted heels; the Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant frescoes which decorate its walls adapted in to embroidered embellishments on gowns. “I like how this family of people – and particularly these two pioneering sisters – moved things forwards" notes Jones.“I admire the way that they lived their lives, the freedom that they created for themselves and the art that they left behind for the world.”
The hand-printed, marble-bound books published by Virginia and Leonard Woolf for Hogarth Press – displayed at the show’s accompanying literary exhibition – offer a seamless segue into classical Italian aesthetics. Mirroring the marble palette of Rome’s Galleria Borghese, whose Bernini sculptures inform the dramatic deshabillé drapery found in the collection, they showcase the harmony between the two movements (so fascinated was Vanessa Bell by Italian Classicism that she would paint in the Borghese gardens, or reprise Old Masters to hang on the walls of Charleston).Visible in woven jacquards and on silken gowns; through intarsia furs and hand-beaded tailoring, marbles become a key component in the collection’s visual language.
Fendi’s own history also appears as a primary source, refracted through Jones’ contemporary perspective: the biographies of those who model the cast used to excavate the archives for formative sketch-es and decoration. The velvet ribbons of a vintage bag are transposed onto a new design; Karligraphy monograms taken from Lagerfeld’s final collection beaded onto boots.
The importance of family – both real and chosen – is celebrated through the cast who model the collection, who each inhabit glass vitrines transformed into rooms of their own.“Fendi represents artisanal quality of the highest order, and it is all about family,” Jones reflects.“It is in its third generation with a Fendi at its helm, and I am guest starring while bringing in the fourth. Here, I am surrounded by strong, powerful women who I love and respect, and want to bring their energy into what I do.”
Images Courtesy of Fendi/ Words Fendi Press release
Collages by Christine Kalvik
