Fendi channels Nineties Kate Moss minimalism with sheer show at Milan Fashion Week

Fendi’s spring/summer 2025 collection channelled the ‘barely there’ trend of the Nineties with sheer slips, see-through shifts and transparent blouses.

The show harked back to iconic sheer looks of the 1990s, such as Kate Moss’ bias-cut 1993 slip and her Alexander McQueen skull dress, both of which she wore without a bra and just a pair of black pants.

Creative director, Kim Jones , has long hailed Kate Moss as a muse for her strength and individuality. The show’s preoccupation with sheer Nineties minimalism meant – like Moss’ old dresses – the model’s bodies were the focal point and the transparent garments acted as mere windows to the individual.

The show featured drop-waist hems, asymmetric hems and bejewelled embellishments, which – alongside the straight-lined silhouettes – evoked a hazy androgyny. Meanwhile, Jones brought a graceful and poignant femininity to the collection through muted tones of espresso, stone and blush pink.

After joining Fendi in 2020, the British designer has seamlessly integrated his codes of practice into the Fendi story, drawing on the fashion house’s traditions while incorporating his own home roots.

The fashion house’s last spring/summer collection focused on Rome (where the label was founded), and this collection seemed to instead indulge the creative director’s birthplace: England.

The show’s flapper-style dresses presented on a blank, white canvas of a hall to soft piano recalled images of Kiera Knightley’s post-war film, Atonement. The collection mingled British courtship with Roman romance.

The array of mocha muted tones punctuated with icy blues conjured images of a hazy spring day in Britain coupled with the heat of an Italian summer.

There was a lightness and fragility to Jones’ spring/summer 2025 collection, heavily contrasting with both his fall/winter and spring/summer 2024 collections.

The show finally descended into Regency strings as the final looks were displayed in an elevated white cube the models had been walking around. The sparkling slips, silky trench coats and sheer gowns offered a naivety not previously seen in his collections.

Sitting front row was actors Shailene Woodley and Song Hye-kyo, whilst the model line-up included Mona Tougaard and Anok Yai.

Kim Jones’ show poses the possibility of ‘barely there’ dresses making a comeback this summer, with the feminine frills and delicate jewels to soften the hardcore look.