FENDI Men’s Spring/Summer 2019 fashion show in collaboration with Italian artist Nico Vascellari heavily featured opposites, illustrated prints and logos walking down a neon-filled runway. Something felt different here. In comparison to their Fall 2018 collection which featured nods to industrialism and plaid; this collaboration hung onto the importance of a name, specifically their own. What does that means for exploring growth among a sea of the same? A sentiment iterated by Nico Vascellari himself in an interview with Studio International seemingly answers, "I’m not interested in the rules or breaking them. I am just interested in creating my own work.”
In previous works Vascellari explored concepts of light, sound and movement through sculpture and performance. More importantly his work considers nature through the skepticism of the post-modern lens. Here, his play with anagrams and graphics seek to explore cathartics and a more involuntary response. FENDI was rearranged to become fiend which is exemplary to the collaboration unearthing a darker side of FENDI – FF-tongued snakes, clawed frogs, and horned demons as iconography. “Fiend as little demon, but also as aficionado. Amor as love.” FENDI and Vascellari are exploring the intrinsic dualities present in their designs and themselves.
Birthed through collaboration, the imagery bled into the set for their Spring/Summer 2019 show which was also designed by Vascellari. No stranger to neon, Vascellari realized many of his motifs, filling the space with a subtle red glow as models appeared from a blackout chamber. Here, opposites find balance, dark becomes light and meaning get explored. FENDI and Vascellari are begging us to take a walk though FF territory to examine our own dualities.
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