As the show space came to a hush, the sounds of women talking began. The voices were Anna Fendi and Silvia Venturini Fendi, relayed over a Max Richter soundtrack. They were discussing the life of Adele Fendi, Anna’s mother and Silvia’s grandmother, who in 1925 founded the house of Fendi. “My mother was an extraordinary woman,” Anna said at one point. Silvia added, “A very modern woman for her time.”

Kim Jones’ SS25 collection for Fendi marks the first in a whole season dedicated to the house’s 100th anniversary and it was a collection that looked back as often as it looked forward. “1925 has so many milestone moments,” Jones said in the show notes. “It is the founding year of Fendi, but also the year of the Art Deco exhibition in Paris. Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby are also published. There’s modernism in dress, design, decoration and thought.”

Even from the first looks, which were sheer dresses upon which distinctly Art Deco patterns were beaded, we knew we were going to be in for a celebration of that lawlessly hedonistic and gender-bending decade of the 1920s, with flapper fashion very evidently on the moodboard. Flowing fringing, brooches embellishing rolled-down tights and filigree-style patterns all added to the 1920s feel of the collection.

Throughout the collection, boots were worn on foot even with the most delicate slip dresses. A new collaboration with the American footwear brand Red Wing, which Fendi re-envisioned in Cuoio Romano leather and Selleria hand stitching.

As is always the case with Fendi, all eyes were on the accessories and a new version of the Mamma Baguette looked much larger than its standard iteration. Naturally, for this collection, this new version of the Mamma was created in tribute to Adele Fendi. Delfina Delettrez Fendi, who has been Jones’ constant muse during his time at Fendi, and continues to be the house’s artistic director of jewellery, created new variants of her Fendi Filo jewellery line that referenced the house’s Selleria line, Selleria meaning “saddle” which was a motif that Adele was closely associated with.

In what has become a typically Kim Jones-style flourish, the SS25 show ended with all of the models gathered inside a central box structure, which then opened to reveal them all standing in mannequin-style formation. It was the ultimate “voila!” moment for a collection that was only the beginning of a whole year of celebrations.