In 1985, Fendi collaborated with Karl Lagerfeld to create a novel museum experience. For the first time, an Italian art museum, the Galleria Nazionale di Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Rome, highlighted a fashion brand at the heart of an exhibit. “Un percorso di lavoro” was a testament to previous Fendi and Lagerfeld partnerships, while establishing future collaborations. Under the artistic eye of Lagerfeld, the exhibit demonstrated the fur production process and the evolution of fur as a fashion product. 

Forty years later, the exhibition has been reactivated as “After un percorso di lavoro,” with the symbolic “after” included to denote the evolution. Informative placards are color coded to differentiate between the original exhibition’s explanations and the contemporary’s recontextualizations of the same fashion pieces. Where original pieces have been lost, heritage reproductions are substituted for similar effect. 

The furs presented move beyond the confines of wearable fashion into artwork. In the Teatro section of the exhibit, furs drape off hanging mannequins, suggesting fluidity and movement inherently present in the coat rather than the wearer. The Design Frameworks section invites visitors into the design process of fur, from Lagerfeld’s sketches to toile mockups and pattern creation, while clarifying that these stages have remained constant. This affirms the design process as an artistic one, legitimizing fashion as art. However, the Kaleidoscope section evolved from suggestion to realization, as the After Kaleidoscope presents six coats made from Lagerfeld’s originally displayed inspirations, including the walls of Rome. 

In the span of forty years, fur’s creation process has not changed, but the products have evolved to fit contemporary perspectives. Placing the 1985 and 2026 versions of the exhibit side-by-side invites both comparison and reflection, rather than merely honoring the past. The braiding between past and present encourages visitors to consider the future of fur and fashion.