Fendi’s Spring/Summer Haute Couture presentation fuses renegade sensibility with old world glamour, incorporating references to Britain’s Bloomsbury Group alongside the romantic splendor of traditional Italian aesthetics. The much-anticipated first offering from Kim Jones, the collection explores the house’s foundational codes through the lens of Virginia Woolf’s gender-blurring novel Orlando; extracts from the text are visibly inscribed into Mother of Pearl minaudière, or else read aloud throughout the show by the friends and family of Fendi. Aspects of the house’s history such as vintage velvet ribbons and monograms from Karl Lagerfeld’s era are stitched together with new designs, integrating the motifs of the past with the fresh perspective Jones brings in this debut collection.

This ode to powerful creatives is equally evident in the show’s casting, which features multigenerational fashion greats such as Kate and Lila Moss alongside Bella Hadid, Cara Delevingne, and surprise star Demi Moore. They strut down the aisle, or lounge in glass vitrines alongside blooming wildflowers and lush foliage. Throughout both collection and staging, literary references intermingle with old world glamour, uniting the work of Britain’s renegade writers with classical Italian touches such as glossy multicolor marble (a nod to Rome’s Galleria Borghese.)

The ethereal setting is surpassed only by the opulence of the looks themselves; draping fabric and lengthy trains trail behind, stirring up layers of smoke around the models’ feet as they walk, flanked by layers of glass. Mirroring the shimmering colors and luscious texture of the collection, these dreamlike reflections offer an alternate view of the looks: a ghostly echo that blurs the boundary between sleeping and waking.