Delfina Delettrez Fendi on Her Debut High Jewelry Line
Fendi's debut in haute joaillerie is an inventive transposition of the house's codes, starting with the "hidden" logo.
Daughter of Silvia Venturini Fendi, Delfina Delettrez Fendi is the first member of the family's fourth generation to have an official role in the brand since, in 2020, she became, at the insistence of Kim Jones, the artistic director of jewelry. There, she created abstract and decidedly contemporary pieces boasting some characteristics of her signature line launched in 2007, from asymmetrical styles to a passion for the single earring.
Last July in Paris, the Fall/Winter 2023 Haute Couture show marked Delettrez Fendi's debut in high jewelry with Fendi Triptych, 30 unique pieces divided into three series: Roma Rosa, Gioiello Giallo, and Bianco Brillante. A triumph of white and yellow diamonds, sapphires and spinels in infinite shades of green, yellow, orange, and pink, and trompe l'oeil FF logos—both hidden and in plain sight—take up the cursive Karligraphy created by Karl Lagerfeld in 1981. Roma Rosa refers to the marble, mosaics, and Roman frescoes evoked by the soft pink fabrics of fashion with three sets of pink sapphires and spinels set with diamonds; Gioiello Giallo celebrates one of the brand's identifying colors with a series of sensational cocktail rings and two sets—one in diamonds with an important fancy yellow diamond and one in diamonds and yellow sapphires; Bianco Brillante exercises virtuosity with two sets of diamonds of various cuts of extraordinary fluidity.
To learn more about the creative decisions that went into the collection, L'OFFICIEL spoke to the Fendi heiress about how she is shaping her family's legacy and the high jewelry world.
L'OFFICIEL: How does your way of creating a collection for Fendi change compared to your signature line?
DELFINA DELETTREZ FENDI: At Fendi, I feel I have to safeguard the codes, the history of my family. It was exciting to have the chance to open a new division that had not yet been touched by the House, plus I have the chance to do what I love at a brand that I can call home. For this collection, I wanted to take inspiration from our icons, the Baguette and Peekaboo bags. In the pieces, there is what I like to call the "Peek-a-boo" effect, with the F appearing almost as a surprise. And the Baguette bag is evoked by the baguette-cut stones that are very present throughout the collection. I wanted to use it as a signature, almost like a place within the logo that gives shape to the Fs.
L'O: What characteristics do you think contemporary high jewelry should have?
DDF: It's a different approach than in the past. There is so much incredible historical jewelry, so I realized that to create interesting pieces in this area I would have to talk about today's women with their new way of wearing, considering, and buying jewelry. They are objects that have strength, meaning, and personality, but with a direct and intimate relationship with the body. They are a deep and personal extension of the woman.
L'O: In your work for Fendi do you feel closer to other fashion brands that make jewelry or to pure jewelry houses?
DDF: It's incredible to see how the world of fashion, constantly evolving and extremely dynamic, is in opposition to jewelry, [a world] regulated by slower dynamics, as if its rhythm were determined by that of nature, by the cycle of stones. Creativity has no limits and cannot be contained to certain categories: I wanted to apply the rules of fashion to a world that sometimes appears traditional and static.
L'O: What inspires you?
DDF: I am constantly inspired by women. Behind the collection, there is the desire to reinterpret aesthetic codes by adapting them to precious stones and their characteristics. Many elements recall empty and full volumes, the F becomes rhythmic and repeats itself like the arches of the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, approaching the idea of a precise architecture.
L'O: What is your favorite stone?
DDF: When I was born, my grandmother, perhaps moved by intuition, or by a strange twist of fate, gave me an aquamarine. I like to think that it was some sort of initiation: a little girl named Delfina with a future in jewelry receiving a stone like aquamarine! I would say that was the first, almost unconscious memory or influence that jewelry had on me.
