MILAN — Seven scents for seven Fendi personalities.
The Roman fashion house is gearing up for the big celebrations of its centenary next year by releasing a high-end fragrance collection. The range aims to pay tribute to the company’s history and key members of the Fendi extended family, from the founder to its newest generations, passing through the likes of Kim Jones and Silvia Venturini Fendi.
The olfactory project — the brand’s first in more than a decade — has been developed in-house with the support of the LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton fragrance division and is hitting the Fendi stores and e-commerce next month.
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“It all started from a conversation I had with the people at LVMH and together we thought about the great opportunity that launching a family of fragrances would have represented ahead the centenary’s celebrations in starting to retrace the history of the Fendi family in a new way,” the company’s chief executive officer Serge Brunschwig told WWD.
“Our goal is to surprise [customers] and make 2025 a unique year for Fendi,” he continued. “That’s been our motivation over the past months: to express all the extraordinary features of this brand and use the centenary to narrate who we are, what we want to say, what’s our history and key codes.”
Brunschwig said the fragrance collection represents a new chapter compared to what has been developed beauty-wise in the past. Former scents included the likes of L’Acquarossa and Fan di Fendi, which followed previous perfumes developed under license.
The new project differs in terms of approach, positioning and distribution, with the scents retailing at 300 euros each and available only at the brand’s own retail network.
Shying away from offering sales projections and targets, Brunschwig stressed the project is more instrumental in enriching the Fendi narrative rather than at pumping its cash registers. “It is an important implementation for us, as adding this category to the stores enables us to strengthen our storytelling and have an extra dimension to deepen the bond between our sales assistants and customers,” he said.
The executive also highlighted the choral nature of the project, which was two years in the making and was led by Jones, who’s Fendi’s artistic director of couture and womenswear; Venturini Fendi, artistic director of accessories and menswear, as well as her daughter Delfina Delettrez Fendi, artistic director of jewelry.
They worked closely with master perfumers Quentin Bisch, Fanny Bal and Anne Flipo, who have been tapped to create the seven scents by employing highly concentrated ingredients encompassing orange blossom absolute from Tunisia; bergamot from Italy’s Calabria region; patchouli from Indonesia; iris from France, and vanilla from Madagascar, among others.
Each fragrance was inspired by a personality, starting from the house’s matriarch Adele Casagrande Fendi, who kickstarted the business in 1925 by opening a fur and leather goods workshop in Rome with husband Edoardo Fendi. The perfume dedicated to her is aptly called “Casa Grande,” referencing both her maiden name and the Italian translation of “great house.” Crafted by Bisch, the scent blends myrrh, amber and leather with notes of cherry, vanilla and tonka bean absolute.
Evoking the memory of a mother’s kiss, the floral scent “Dolce Bacio” is dedicated to Anna Fendi, the founder’s daughter and one of the legendary Fendi sisters. “It’s the scent that personifies my mother. A woman who is both very strong and very gentle, a common trait of all Fendi women,” said Venturini Fendi of the scent, which mixes Damascene rose and patchouli.
The designer, who represents Fendi’s third generation and is behind iconic creations such as the Baguette and Peekaboo bags, is embodied by the fresh scent “Perché No” — a name winking to the Italian expression for “Why not” that she has turned into her mantra.
Through notes of sandalwood and pepper accents, Venturini Fendi wanted to evoke a white sheet drying in the sun in the garden of “I Casali del Pino,” her estate in the Roman countryside where the Fendi family gathers on weekends.
With “Prima Terra,” Jones looked to pay tribute to Southern and Eastern Africa, instead. “When we created the fragrance, my desire was to bring together all the scents that made up this chapter of my life: my youth in Africa,” he said about reflecting his childhood memories and local landscapes through the likes of tangerine, rosemary and oak moss.
In the same vein, Fendi’s fourth generation represented by Delettrez Fendi and sister Leonetta Luciano Fendi is embodied by the “Sempre Mio” and “Ciao Amore” scents, respectively, inspired by places close to the siblings’ hearts. The former’s is the Ourika valley just outside Marrakech, while the latter’s is the Italian island of Ponza, where the family spends their summers.
“La Baguette” is dedicated to Delettrez Fendi’s young twins Tazio and Dardo, in an ironic reference to their snack — a slice of bread with butter and sugar — as well as to the inception of the brand’s signature accessory.
“I was pregnant when I designed the Baguette bag: it’s a timeless piece that will always be associated with the idea of a new generation,” Venturini Fendi said.
The Roman roots of the house are expressed through the refillable glass flacon. This has a subtle arch design nodding to local architecture — including the facade of the company’s Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana headquarters — and is finished off by a black cap with the FF logo in relief and a brass ring.
The arched element will also define the special window installation Fendi will set up at its Cannes store, which will be the first to carry the collection on June 4. The Fendi boutique in Paris’ Rue Saint-Honoré will follow on June 10, before the official rollout at a wide selection of Fendi stores worldwide as well as the brand’s e-commerce that will kick off on June 20. In China, the fragrances will be available starting in September.
In addition to the 100-ml format, a box with all seven fragrances offered in a miniature 10-ml size will be also available to purchase at 300 euros.
To further mark the launch, the brand created the Miniature Holder leather charm to be able to carry one’s favorite scent anywhere.
Priced at 290 euros, the accessory replicates the playful spirit of the Fendi x Chupa Chups lollipop holder bags that went viral after the brand’s fall 2024 show in February. These were constructed out of Selleria leather — known for its quality and craftsmanship, often hand-stitched with intricate detailing — making for one of the heritage codes that Fendi has started to revamp ahead of its 100th anniversary.
“These are perfect examples showing what a brand like Fendi has to do. There’s an ironic side that has to exist: a beautiful product, a perfect technique but all expressed lightheartedly,” Brunschwig said.