The name Fendi has always been associated with luxury and quality leather bags. However, not everyone knows that the brand was originally a family-run store in Italy. The brand suffered a loss on Monday with the death of one of the five sisters of the family— Carla Fendi— who catapulted the brand to where it is now. Carla, 79, died in Rome where the first Fendi store was opened back in 1918.
The other Fendi sisters are Paola, Anna, Franca and Alda. Each of them had a specific role to play in the business. Carla concentrated on coordinating the brand's marketing and PR. She also went on to be the company's president till they sold to the French luxury conglomerate, LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy) in 1999.
The story of the brand began when their mother, Adele Casagrande opened a small leather workshop in 1918, off Rome in Piazza Venezia. She then married Eduardo Fendi in 1925 and together they opened a leather boutique. The children are known to have grown up playing with scraps of leather. Eventually, in the 60s, the sisters expanded the brand to ready-to-wear shoes perfume, children's wear and household goods. They got a huge boost when they collaborated with reputed designer Karl Lagerfeld.
Carla, who thought fur was the most luxurious fabric, never stopped using it, despite it coming under controversy with animal activists frequently protesting against the company for the use of fur. Carla a supporter of arts and culture, also helped restore the famous Trevi Fountain in Rome. She was also a chief patron of the Two Worlds arts festival in Spoleto, Umbria in Italy.
In 2007, she also established the Carla Fendi foundation to ensure that there was continuity and future growth in the art, literature, cinema, fashion, environment and social sectors. The foundations aims at preserving cultural heritage and values from the past.
With a fastidious eye, Carla was pivotal in the brand's success and she was always well-dressed.
