Recently Fendi has also been making inroads in the film industry. She has her own production company, First Sun, launched in 2007 with Italian director Luca Guadagnino; this year marks the debut of their first film, Io Sono L’Amore, a romantic drama starring Tilda Swinton (its release date is still pending). “It’s a story about an Italian family in the textiles business,” says Fendi, making clear that it’s a personal side project.
Yet film is only one outside interest. Were it not for the fashion gig, Fendi muses she could be doing any number of things, rattling off a laundry list of would-be careers, from screenwriter and director to psychiatrist (“I like complex personalities”) and sculptor. “I think it would be interesting to become a nun,” she adds, “and start exploring religion.” Once upon a time Fendi wanted to become an actress, a yen she attributes to a family tradition in which the children organized the dinner-party entertainment. (Delfina previously had the acting bug; Leonetta still does.)
“I remember when I had to be the seven dwarves, all at once, because I was the little one,” she recalls. “It was stressful. Can you imagine? All seven!” At another shindig, this time for a Lagerfeld birthday celebration, the young Fendis dressed up as various fashion personalities. Silvia played two characters, her aunt Paola—“very theatrical,” she says, jumping into another mock impression—and editor Anna Piaggi. “That was easy,” she says. “It was just a pillow with a vase, flowers, everything, on my head.
“You know, when you are creative, you are creative in anything,” Fendi continues. She pauses a bit before making one final conclusion: “Probably I would do what I am doing. I think I’m good at this.”
