Fendi Menswear 2023

It was a year ago that Silvia Fendi kickstarted the current mania for male midriffs in fashion with her crop top suiting for SS22. Asked today if it feels satisfying to see a Fendi-fired trend ricochet across the fashion sphere, she said: “Yeah, it does! When we did it, it was very well received—and there were so many comments on Instagram. And it was the moment to do it. But if you look at all of our shows, there is always something that might be a bit disturbing for some.”

Today’s chief Fendi disturbance to the fashion force, as nominated by Silvia, was look 27’s pale greige coat in ultralight technical gabardine. Thanks to the ultrasound bonded seamless internal pockets, the coated buttons, the fluidity of the material and the gently kinky serrations at each shoulder, it looked more akin to a shirtdress. In the editing process, she said, her team had repeatedly proposed it being consigned to the nearly-rans: “But I said ‘No, this is my favorite—you cannot take it away.’

Her team did have a point in that look 27’s intriguing ambiguity rested on perceptions of gender signifiers in clothing, whereas the rest of the collection was firmly trad masculine gender wise, but often deeply ambiguous around the fulcrum of materiality. With the exception of one shirtless tuxedo (to my colleagues back at Runway towers’ general chagrin, the only glimpse of midriff), most of the looks were rooted in a mid ’90s Cali workwear/skatewear aesthetic, complete with tote-toted runway skateboard. What seemed a denim-heavy collection was not always so: look 34’s soft-washed patch pocket coat was crafted of shaved mink, while look 10’s blouson—a little more evidently—was fashioned from strips of dyed shearling. What looked like crispy cotton khakis turned out to be cut from ultra-thin nappa.