By James Heaton

Clare Waight Keller’s Fendi is a big tent brand. It wants to capture the most basic elements of our lives while providing a sense of luxury and whimsy. And by and large, it succeeds with a certain kind of ease which you have come to expect from CWK. The incorporation of functionality as a brand ethos have benefitted Fendi greatly and there is little doubt that CWK have instilled that belief to be proliferated through both womenswear and menswear lines. While the menswear line is a bit static due to its overwhelming attachment to the Tisci’s reign and to an extent tired Parisian aesthetics of tailored-loose contrasts, the womenswear line brimming with sophistication and clarity of ideas. The progression of CWK as a heavyweight of fashion is evident both in form and function in this collection. While that is easy to state for a brand like Fendi, it is hard to find one’s own voice when you are in charge of a big fashion house. CWK does this with ease. And that ease translates into Fendi’s resurgence as one of the strongest performer artistically and commercially.