Maria Grazia Chiuri is the new creative director at Fendi Or rather, the new Chief Creative Officer
On September 30, just moments after the maison’s show at Milan Fashion Week SS26 Women, it was announced that Silvia Venturini Fendi would no longer serve as creative director of the brand that bears her name after more than three decades. The Roman designer, a third-generation member of the founding family, has taken on the role of honorary president of the brand, but it was not yet known who would take her place in the atelier. Of course, the name of Maria Grazia Chiuri was among the most highly rumored in the fashion industry, along with Willy Chavarria and Francesco Risso, but there was no certainty about the former Dior designer. Today, however, the Fendi maison has officially announced that Chiuri is its new Chief Creative Officer, a title that raises some questions about her power within the company.
«Maria Grazia Chiuri is one of the greatest creative talents in fashion today, and I am delighted that she has chosen to return to Fendi to continue expressing her creativity within the LVMH group, after having shared her bold vision of fashion. Surrounded by the Fendi teams and in a city dear to her, I am convinced that Maria Grazia will contribute to the artistic renewal and future success of the Maison, while perpetuating its unique legacy,» said Bernard Arnault, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the LVMH Group. Supported also by Ramon Ros, President and CEO of the Maison (who joined the company last July 1 after a period at Louis Vuitton in China), Maria Grazia Chiuri stated, «It is with honor and joy that I return to Fendi today, where I had the privilege of training under the guidance of the founders, the five sisters. This place was a workshop of talent and the starting point for many creatives, thanks to the extraordinary ability of these five women to nurture generations of vision and craftsmanship. I thank Mr. Arnault for the trust placed in me by entrusting me with the task of helping to write a new chapter in the history of this extraordinary female-led company.»
Chiuri’s first collection for Fendi will be FW26, to be presented in Milan next February, but this year does not mark her first entry into the Fendi Atelier. In fact, it was 1989 when she was hired by the Maison, with whom she worked on the design of the iconic Baguette. She was the one who brought Pierpaolo Piccioli into the company, while ten years after joining Fendi, in 1999, she was recruited by Valentino Garavani to create Valentino accessories together with Piccioli. After both began working on the Red Valentino line in 2003, in 2008 they became Valentino’s deputy creative directors, before parting ways creatively in 2016, when Chiuri took on the role of creative director of Dior.
