Fendi is an Italian fashion house best known for its "baguette" handbags. It was launched in 1925 as a fur and leather shop in Rome, but today is a multinational luxury goods brand owned by LVMH.
Karl Lagerfeld is the creative director.
Fendi originated in 1918 when Adele Casagrande opened a leather and fur shop in Via del Plebiscito in central Rome. When Adele married Edoardo
Fendi in 1925, they made a decision to change the name to
Fendi. The business prospered, and a new shop was opened in Via Piave in 1932. By 1946, Paola, the eldest of the couple's five daughters, went to work for the firm at age 15, followed by her sisters Carla, Anna, Franca, and Alda. In time, each of the daughters inherited 20% of the company. In 1962, the
Fendis signed up German designer
Karl Lagerfeld, who immediately created the inverted FF logo that joined the growing list of international status symbols. Marvin Traub, president of Bloomingdale's, discovered
Fendi's leather goods and introduced them to the United States. Other outlets soon followed, and today,
Fendi is largely represented through high-end department stores.
