FENDI Revives Karl Lagerfeld’s Landmark 1985 Exhibition in Rome

Italian luxury maison FENDI is presenting “After – Steps Through Work / Karl Lagerfeld 1985” at the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Rome. The exhibition runs from July 10 through October 25, 2026.

Conceived by Chief Creative Officer Maria Grazia Chiuri, the exhibition reconstructs, as faithfully as possible, “Steps Through Work. FENDI / Karl Lagerfeld 1985,” originally staged at the same museum in 1985.

Nearly four decades later, the project revisits a pioneering exhibition created at a time when presenting a fashion house within a museum context was still far from conventional.

Summary

Reconstructing a Pioneering Exhibition from 1985

The original exhibition, “Steps Through Work. FENDI / Karl Lagerfeld 1985,” opened at the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna in Rome in October 1985.

It was conceived to celebrate the first 20 years of collaboration between FENDI and Karl Lagerfeld, a partnership that continued for more than half a century, until the designer’s death in 2019.

Curated by Ida Panicelli, the exhibition featured an installation conceived by Lagerfeld himself. Claudio Lazzarini and Carmela Vigliotti translated his vision into a physical exhibition environment.

At the time, the presentation was considered a groundbreaking example of an Italian museum dedicating an exhibition to a fashion house.

The exhibition explored the entire process behind the creation of a fur garment, from the initial idea and design development to its final production. Through a sequence devised by Lagerfeld, visitors encountered the experimental methods through which FENDI challenged conventional perceptions of fur, introducing new ideas of lightness, movement, and material expression.

“After” Reconsiders the Relationship Between Past and Present

In 2026, Maria Grazia Chiuri brings the historic exhibition back to life under the title “After.”

The aim is not simply to reproduce the 1985 presentation. Rather, the exhibition seeks to reopen a project of significant artistic and historical value that has received relatively limited critical examination, making it accessible to a contemporary audience.

The title “After” reflects the intention to treat 1985 as a point of departure, reconsidering the works and images of that period within the context of the present and generating new meanings from them.

Reactivating a past exhibition also raises broader questions about the nature of fashion itself: an art form that continually draws from history while remaining inseparable from the present. By returning to the ideas introduced nearly 40 years ago, the project explores how their creative possibilities might continue to evolve into the future.

Recreating the Original Installation Through Archives and Replicas

The new exhibition is presented in a different gallery within the same museum that hosted the original show in 1985.

Adapting the historic installation to a new space required the layout to be reconsidered in several ways. Not all of the works displayed in 1985 have survived, and only a limited number of original pieces remain available for exhibition.

As a result, “After” reconstructs the original installation as faithfully as possible using FENDI’s heritage materials and archival records. Missing prototype canvases and fur pieces have been recreated through meticulously produced replicas.

Rather than simply replacing lost objects, the exhibition reinterprets the original installation through documents, visual records, and surviving materials, preserving the ideas and spatial experience that defined the 1985 presentation.

Eight Sections Trace FENDI’s Creative Process

The exhibition is organized into eight sections: Sample Boards, Kaleidoscope, Design Framework, Theatre, Combs, Video, Sketches, and Computer.

Together, they reveal the many stages involved in creating FENDI’s fur designs, including material research, color experimentation, sketching, prototyping, and moving-image production.

On display are 22 paper models, seven prototype canvases, 50 sample boards, 180 sketches, and 25 fur pieces.

The exhibition also includes “Histoire d’Eau,” a 1977 film directed by Jacques de Bascher, as well as video interviews with Paola Fendi, Ida Panicelli, and Arturo Carlo Quintavalle. Press materials, rare archival documents, and other historical records further illuminate the context in which the original exhibition was created.

Reconsidering Fashion’s Place in the Museum

The final section of the exhibition presents newspaper and magazine coverage published at the time of the original 1985 show.

These materials reveal the debates that surrounded the idea of presenting fashion within a museum environment.

Nearly four decades later, fashion has become a major subject for museums around the world. Yet questions remain over how clothing, creative processes, and the histories of fashion houses should be preserved, researched, and exhibited.

“After” not only revisits the creative legacy of FENDI and Karl Lagerfeld, but also reexamines the possibilities of presenting fashion as a cultural and historical document through a contemporary lens.

Exhibition Details

The exhibition is curated by Maria Luisa Frisa, with exhibition design by Lazzarini Pickering Architetti. Graphic design is by Irene Bacchi and Leonardo Sonnoli.

The works and archival materials are drawn from the FENDI Archive and the archive of the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea. “After” is a FENDI project conceived by Maria Grazia Chiuri.

Exhibition: After – Steps Through Work / Karl Lagerfeld 1985
Venue: Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea
Address: Viale delle Belle Arti, 131, 00197 Rome
Dates: July 10–October 25, 2026
Opening hours: Tuesday–Sunday, 9:00 a.m.–7:00 p.m.

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