Fendi shows are always one of the most exciting and glamorous events of the entire fashion season.
For years, the Italian fashion house has sent some of the biggest supermodels of the day down the runway, as well as filling its front row with some of its star-studded celebrities.
This week the spring/summer 2024 collection was no exception. Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell, Cara Delevingne, Demi Moore and Naomi Watts were among the high fashion and Hollywood royalty in attendance.
Not to mention Kate Moss, who had a row with partner Nikolai von Bismarck, leading to a social media meltdown after the couple were thought to have split. I know how, I know Fendi.
But this time there was something else – and it was the clothes they were wearing. Because if you take a closer look at the outfits of those in the front row, including actresses Demi Moore and Christina Ricci, as well as model Amber Valletta, you’ll notice that many of them were on next season’s models. In other words, exactly the clothes that the design house intended to present on the catwalk.
This signals a real change in the way fashion brands work with celebrities in the front row (Frows); pushing them harder than ever before.
Although celebrity Frows have always attracted as much attention as the catwalk itself, once upon a time, celebrities who were invited to sit center stage were dressed according to the brand’s current season, thereby creating demand for the designer’s clothes in stores.
So why include them in next season’s outfits? Easy. This is an ingenious way to increase demand for future collections and thus create a more stable economic outlook with the help of a flood of pre-orders. Because if there’s one thing fashion loves more than hype about what’s new, it’s stylish celebrities wearing everything new.
Having celebrities in the front row has always been an important part of any designer’s marketing plan, and most brands have a VIP or talent manager who coordinates such things.
This is because celebrities are more important in influencing the public’s appetites and clothing changes than the fashion editors and buyers who sit next to them. (Demi Moore showed it off right away, and Amber Valletta’s Fendi caught the attention of her 4.8 million Instagram followers.)
However, the reality is that you need all three: celebrities to spark the dream; Press to sell the dream over a longer period; and buyers so that you can sell the collection in the store.
Designers usually have to allocate about 100 seats in the front row.
And it is a bitter battle for each of these places. Editors-in-Chief will battle each other for the golden ticket; top influencers will work hard to succeed, while shoppers from major retailers such as Yoox’s Alison Loehnis, who oversees luxury sites Net-a-Porter, Mr Porter and The Outnet, will make sure they have there were enough good places. to see collections clearly.
But about 15 seats in the middle are reserved specifically for celebrities.
And who these celebrities are, as well as how they behave in the front row, is crucial for a design house.
Firstly, Frow’s celebrities should ideally get along, as they will be sitting side by side. (Trust me, those seats are tiny!) This is so photographers can capture the “power gang” in one simple shot, just before the lights go down and the show begins.
If the celebrities in the front row are naturally friends, as is the case with most Fendi guests, it adds even more excitement and gossip.
How these celebrities get these places is, of course, a complex and sometimes poignant story. Up-and-coming stars (and has-beens) understand the power and value of being photographed in the right front row and will have their agent lobby hard for the golden ticket. (I witnessed several “do you know who I am?” moments at London Fashion Week.)
However, usually the relationship is based on a sincere friendship with the artistic director of the brand, as, for example, Harry Styles with the former artistic director of Gucci Alessandro Michele; historical friendships with the brand, such as Rachel Weisz with Burberry; or an ongoing relationship with both the brand and the designer.
I know celebrities and socialites who tip at a major brand’s shows because the brand simply “takes care” of them throughout the year in the form of gifted clothes and bags or invitations to dinners and events. With some brands, exchanging money is also out of the question.
Fendi’s most stellar Frows is likely a mix of old and new friends. Naomi Campbell, for example, is both a friend of Fendi artistic director Kim Jones and the face of the brand. Thus, attending all the fashion shows would almost certainly be written into her contract.
Christina Ricci, meanwhile, appears to be a relatively new friend, having worn Jones’ designs to both the Emmy Awards and the Met Gala this year.
One thing is clear: Jones, 50, has one of the most stellar little black books in all of fashion.
The British designer is a graduate of Central Saint Martins in London and headed men’s fashion for Louis Vuitton as well as Dior Homme for more than seven years before joining Fendi in 2020, where he succeeded Karl Lagerfeld.
So not only does he know everyone (and everyone loves him for his fun and down-to-earth personality), but he also understands the power dynamics between fashion and celebrities.
Jones has known most of the supermodels of the 1990s for years and has worked regularly with Demi Moore, even having her in his debut Fendi couture collection in January 2021.
(To understand the complex nature of fashion networks, the couple actually met when Nikolai von Bismarck photographed Moore for a Dior book back in 2019, where she wore one of Kim Jones’s men’s tuxedos.)
Other designers use their famous Frows in much the same way. At this week’s London Fashion Week, Burberry artistic director Daniel Lee, like Jones, a Central Saint Martins graduate, made sure the front row might have attracted more attention than the clothes he wore on the catwalk.
Instead of 15 celebrity seats, a Burberry insider says the brand dressed about 100 VIPs – from actress Jodie Comer to musician Damon Albarn and model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley – who showed up to support the designer.
While most were dressed head-to-toe in Burberry’s current collection—a first for Lee’s brand—Kylie Minogue and Rachel Weisz were both in Burberry’s next season.
Not since Christopher Bailey, Burberry’s creative director from 2004 to 2018 and then one of fashion’s most well-connected men, has Burberry’s front row attracted so many stars eager to showcase the brand.
Even Anna Wintour, who famously wears her own clothes at every show, wore a Burberry dress, again from next year’s spring/summer collection.
It remains to be seen whether any of the front row stars at next week’s Paris Fashion Week will follow Burberry and Fendi’s lead and dress their front row in next season’s designs.
But I wouldn’t be surprised if VIP managers from Dior, Louis Vuitton and Saint Laurent are delivering spring-summer 2024 outfits to their star guests this very minute.