Fendi models walk on water in Rome’s Trevi fountain

Shimmering models wearing the latest creations
by Fendi appeared to walk on water Thursday at a fairytale show in Rome’s
Trevi fountain to mark the luxury fashion house’s 90th anniversary.

Above the sparkling waters of the Baroque fountain, models wearing
hand-painted dresses in pale pink, blue and cream, adorned with
hand-stitched
flowers or starlit scenes, glided across a transparent catwalk in the basin.
The soft, luxurious collection of 46 outfits was inspired by Danish
fairytale illustrator Kay Nielsen, who painted colour plates for the book
Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen in 1924 and also later worked for
Disney, including on sequences of the film Fantasia.

The
breathtaking finale at the #LegendsandFairytales show. #Fendi90Years Photo
by @vincenzo_grillo

A photo
posted by Fendi (@fendi) on Jul
7, 2016 at 2:34pm PDT

Glittering evening gowns with slits up the sides transformed their
wearers
into modern-day Hansel and Gretels, the reflection of lights scintillating
in
the turquoise waters echoing the shine of pebbles glinting in the moonlight
in
the fairytale.
Dresses were nipped in at the waist or featured a bell skirt, the house’s
trademark fur coat made an appearance in lynx, but what wowed the 200
exclusive guests was a patterned cape, in grey silk, which opened at both
the
front and back.

Bags looked like they were made of fur but were actually tiny pieces
of
silk, sown together to look like snakeskin.
As the models, including Americans Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid, wound
up
their catwalk, designer Karl Largerfeld, wearing his trademark gloves, came
out to take a bow along with the Italian house’s accessories designer Silvia
Venturini Fendi.

An ethereal
@bellahadid on the Trevi Fountain runway for #LegendsandFairytales.
#Fendi90Years

A photo
posted by Fendi (@fendi) on Jul
7, 2016 at 1:19pm PDT

Coins in the fountain

Reaching the middle of the glass bridge he threw three coins over his
shoulder into the fountain with a grin — a tradition that is said to
ensure a
return to the eternal city.

The fountain, made famous by a scene in Federico Fellini’s “La Dolce
Vita”
in which Anita Ekberg wades through its pristine waters, was restored last
year in a clean-up funded by the fashion house, which first opened its doors
in the capital in 1926.
Commissioned by Pope Clement XII in 1730, it is the end point of one of
the
aqueducts that supplied ancient Rome with water.
The tradition of throwing coins into the fountain was made famous by
Frank
Sinatra’s rendition of “Three Coins in the Fountain” in the 1954 romantic
comedy film of the same name.

Fendi, now part of French luxury giant LVMH, said it wanted to
capture the
romance of the nearly 300-year-old monument, visited by millions of tourists
every year, where tradition has it visitors can ensure eternal love by
drinking its waters.
For those not lucky enough to bag tickets to the show, the house was
putting on a sumptuous dinner for 600 guests at in the city’s Villa Borghese
park, decorated for the occasion with Roman fountains.

As part of its anniversary celebrations, the fashion giant is also
hosting
an exhibition in the Square Colosseum, its headquarters in Rome, from July 9
to October 23. Entitled “Fendi Roma: The Artisans of Dreams”, the show
explores the
creative history of the Italian house through a video installation and
drawings by Lagerfeld of his most prized creations. (AFP)

Images: Fendi Facebook