Fendi Menswear Fall/Winter 2020 Milan

This “new normal” collection looked to offer a fresh take on classic tailoring, house codes and accessories.

Many Milanese designers have been going back to basics for fall, pulling out wardrobe workhorses such as classic wool suiting, shearling, tailored topcoats and quilted jackets. As the industry emerges from an era dominated by streetwear, these designers are looking for a new way forward, reworking those old favorites, trying to give them street cred.

Silvia Venturini Fendi did just that, with a “new normal” collection that looked to offer a fresh take on classic tailoring, house codes and accessories. She thought it would be a good idea “to stop a second” and rethink the basics — gray flannel, pinstripes, cashmere and shearling — that have been doing their duty, quietly, for so long.

She turned some of them inside out — literally — constructing suit jackets and coats in matte satin with the linings for all to see. Fur and flannel coats alike came with modular, zippered panels that could be whipped off, and the coats worn long or short.

Some designs even changed color under a special light.

Fendi worked this season with Anrealage’s creative director Kunihiko Morinaga on photochromatic outerwear and accessories. At the end of the show, a model in a textured white coat stood stock still while UV lamps slid alongside him, transforming his outfit into a shade of Fendi yellow or gray.

Venturini Fendi also revisited the brand’s money-spinning accessories for a new era. The Baguette acquired new hardware around the bottom and a fuzzy, chunky chain handle, while the Peekaboo bag is now a travel trunk hybrid. Even the humble FF dustbag metamorphosed into a leather drawstring pouch, its squishiness reminiscent of Daniel Lee’s designs for Bottega Veneta.

Footwear, too, is stomping into the future. Models donned high and low lug-soled boots in loud colors like sky blue, lemon and dark yellow. Their proportions were so big and bold they made even the chunkiest of sneakers look like ballet slippers.

Creating this new wardrobe will take time, but judging from all of the experiments, transformations and big statements, Venturini Fendi is ready to roar into the 2020s.