Held on the last day of Paris Haute Couture Week 2026, the show drew on sustainable fur craft in a salute to Karl Lagerfeld and the Fendi sistersMaria Grazia Chiuri’s first collection for Fendi – fall/winter 2026 – debuted in Milan in February but the designer didn’t wait long to pay homage to Rome, the city that both she and Fendi call home.Chiuri’s first haute couture show for the label took place in Rome on the last day of the Paris Haute Couture fall/winter 2026-27 shows. The event was held at the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, where the exhibition “After Steps Through Work. Fendi / Karl Lagerfeld 1985” opened on the same day.First held in 1985, the exhibition – re-created almost in its entirety for this occasion – is a celebration of the late designer’s first 20 years at Fendi, focusing on his sketches and fur creations for the house.Furs on display at the Fendi exhibition “After Steps Through Work. Fendi / Karl Lagerfeld 1985” in Rome. Photo: HandoutIn a preview of the show, Chiuri recalled visiting the exhibition back in 1985, a few years before she joined Fendi, where she learned the tricks of the trade with Lagerfeld and the famous Fendi sisters.This couture collection, Chiuri explained, marks 10 years of haute couture at Fendi, a house that began as a furrier and is still known for its luxurious fur coats. “Materials are key to Fendi,” said Chiuri. “But it’s not just [about] precious materials. The value of a garment doesn’t come only from the intrinsic value of its materials but [also] from the workmanship and how the pieces are made, especially when it comes to fur.”A fur coat worn over a sheer dress at Fendi’s fall/winter 2026-27 haute couture show in Rome. Photo: AFPChiuri added that to make its fur coats, Fendi uses pelts that are already in existence and that it already owns as part of its vast repository. She and her team also make an effort to use every single piece of the skins to avoid waste. Fur was originally a royal garment, she explained, mainly worn by male rulers as a symbol of power. It eventually became a status symbol for wealthy women, who would normally receive fur coats as gifts from their husbands. Fendi changed all that, making fur light and sensual.The collection features a predominantly monochrome palette. Photo: AFPSensuality was at the heart of the collection, whose starting point was a fashion film, titled Histoire d’Eau and commissioned by Lagerfeld for his first Fendi range. The short, which was also part of the exhibition, depicts a German girl exploring Rome in the 70s.