Life and fashion often reward those who can juggle several balls at once. At times, however, it becomes clear that there is virtue in specificity, too. Maria Grazia Chiuri’s Spring/Summer 2027 collection for Fendi is one of those times. While the individual pieces are often strong and generally wearable, the collection as a whole lacks a single discernible through-line.
The first half of the collection heavily features layers of slinky, lingerie-inspired pieces, often veering toward black and other muted colors. In some standout looks, the effect evokes the backstage dressing room of an up-market burlesque club. A mint-green bralette and slip skirt set, trimmed with black lace, is paired with knee-high fishnet socks. Thrown casually over the ensemble is a dark grey wool coat, complete with a fur stole that feels classically Fendi. The look recalls a struggling performer on her way home from a night at the gentleman’s club. While not necessarily what is typically expected of a Fendi show, it works. As with much of Chiuri’s work, each piece is certainly wearable by the real-life Fendi woman — just maybe not without some add-ons.
The racy after-work aesthetic does not, however, work in all of its iterations. Later in the collection, Chiuri presents a different version of burlesque-inspired lingerie. A black mesh jumpsuit with an impossibly deep V-neck, exposing the model’s nipples, is paired with a black collar, which appears throughout the collection, and black ankle-strap studded stilettos with socks.
Rather than looking cool and old-world, as in the aforementioned silhouette, the lingerie here borders on caricature. The combination of an all-black color palette, nipple exposure, and a Playboy Bunny-style collar reads as heavy-handed. None of the individual pieces are particularly wearable. Here, the messy maximalist styling that worked in previous looks makes the outfit feel less cohesive.
Chiuri devotes a generous portion of the collection to long dresses and rompers, most of which seem intended as evening wear. A sheer, high-necked romper appears in a demure shade of baby pink. Accessorized with a yellow fur stole, mint-green cuffs, and fishnet tights, it is clearly intended as a continuation of earlier looks. Once again, the individual pieces are highly wearable, and several following looks reinterpret elements of the outfit.
A wealth of other evening looks, however, have little to do with the motifs Chiuri explores earlier in the collection. A spaghetti-strap opaque dress featuring a black-and-white geometric pattern appears, accessorized again with a collar, black socks, and stilettos. On its own, the look is undoubtedly cool, modern, and sophisticated, but these are not the adjectives evoked by the rest of the collection. Where this look is put-together and restrained, a later look feels the opposite: a buttoned shirt is thrown over a maximalist skirt as an amalgamation of fringe and sparkle, bringing the evening look down to earth. Much of the collection, however, heavily featuring fur, brocade, and lace, is anything but.
In essence, there is no discernible through-line among the different women Chiuri seems to be designing for. The backstage burlesque dancer does not square well with the pastel princess, who does not get along with the modern glamazon, who in turn seems worlds away from the half-dressed yet impossibly glamorous club-hopper. There are too many recurring visual motifs, all of which are referenced too infrequently across the collection’s 70 looks to make up for the lack of a conceptual through-line. The result is a collection that often feels scattered and imprecise, despite the broad wearability of most of its individual pieces.
