Fendi tasks internationally renowned MAD Architects to deconstruct the iconic Peekaboo ISeeU and create a new pair of sneakers for FW24 — as seen on Chinese short track speed skating gold-medalist Lin Xiaojun.
Fendi has never been one to shy from the appreciation of the auxiliary elements that bring a maison’s grand vision to life. Born right in the age of Rome’s architectural patrimony, the house has been responsible for gifting the design world many new artefacts that celebrate the fruitful crossroads of luxury fashion and architecture, the two distinct worlds of design often fusing with sparks that never go without a brilliant show.
While the list of people who have made all these possible goes on for a while, one of the primary endorsers these relationships is Silvia Venturini Fendi, Fendi’s Artistic Director of Accessories and Menswear, who has initiated a suite of applied partnerships with architects in dialogue with the House menswear collections. One of these includes the remake of the iconic Peekaboo ISeeU bag and pair of sneakers, designed under the creative direction of Fendi and Ma Yansong — co-founder of the Beijing-based office MAD Architects.
First seen by the world on the models that walked the Men’s Fall Winter 2024-25 show in January, the Peekaboo ISeeU bag is imbibed with MAD’s organic approach to contemporary spaces, their Eastern affinity for nature’s curvatures an overture in the way the bag is deconstructed with varnished aluminium pieces that separate the facade and adorn the handle. Bifurcating the conventionally flat surface of the bag’s smooth leather construction, each wave-like form is sculpted to create a sense of continuous movement in a ripple-effect that extends to the bag’s bottom right corner — just as Xiaojun scales the grand, curling roof of the Harbin Opera house in Harbin, China — also designed by MAD Architects.
The bag comes in two exclusive colourways; a black-on-black Peekaboo ISeeU Medium in Cuoio Romano grain leather and satin-finish aluminium with glossy blue aluminium insertions, and a dove grey Peekaboo ISeeU Small in Cuoio Romano grain leather with gloss yellow aluminium insertions.
The FENDI MAD sneaker rifts off of the house’s ongoing exploration of new-age footwear, the slip-on featuring an organic injection-moulded sole and upper with two-tone bubble details adorned with shaded metallic accents. Aerodynamically low and flat, the silhouette’s ergonomic slant is fastened with minimalist stretch shoelaces that disappear into the wavy upper above the shoe’s mesh tongue, complete with the Fendi logo peering beneath a bubble detail on the outer edge.
Similar to the colour offerings of the Peekaboo, the FENDI MAD sneaker comes in three colourways; dove grey with yellow accents, black with midnight shaded blue accents, or off white with silver accents. Worn by the winner of the the men’s 1,500-meter short track speed skating gold medal at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, and ALL GOLD — three first-place titles — medalist at the ISU World Short Track Speed Skating Championships 2024 in Rotterdam, the shoe is a true symbol of fluid speed.
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