The Fendi Fall 2019 Haute Couture runway show in Rome started at sunset at the Temple of Venus for a never seen before show named “The Dawn of Romanity”. Celebrating Rome in its ageless glory, the Collection unfolds in a symphony of shifting impressions.

Framed by the cella of Venus, and parading through an ephemeral Italian garden replete with topiary and reflecting pools, 54 silhouettes acknowledged Karl Lagerfeld’s 54-year tenure at the house of Fendi, the longest collaboration between a designer and a fashion brand. The models walked on an ancient path with a live performance by Italian composer Caterina Barbieri.

Hand-picked by Silvia Venturini Fendi, archive sketches by Karl Lagerfeld inform elements of the Collection’s silhouette. The collection featured sweeping lines of tailoring, empress dresses, tucked shoulders and a graphic décolleté. Pencil skirts, blouses and palazzo trousers in silk moiré and marbled gazar were underpinned by frosted lingerie, as diaphanous bishop-sleeve gowns grow feathered petals, grids of octagon beading and sheaves of raffia ‘wheat’.

The Fendi Fall 2019 Haute Couture collection explored the metamorphic splendour of marble – its essence as one of nature’s imperfect wonders threaded with crystalline and otherworldly colors. Evoking the masterful craft of opus sectile marquetry, pictorial decorations were synthesized in fabric and fur. Pastel shades of citrus, jade, rose quartz and chalcedony encounter mineral and earth tones flecked with gold.

Go backstage as The ruins of the Palatine Hill create a monumental backdrop for the Fendi Couture Fall show.