How 'the chicest woman in the world' Princess Anne became a Fendi fashion icon

Fashion house Fendi's designer Silvia Venturini Fendi said the princess royal was her inspiration for her Milan fashion week collection, ITV News' Cari Davies reports

Princess Anne has been named as the muse behind Fendi men's autumn-winter 2024-2025 Milan Fashion Week collection.

Trench coats, tweed and wellington boots are a sight commonly worn by the princess royal as she tends to her horses and carries out royal duties, but this season her staple looks are being seen strutted down the catwalk.

Designer Silvia Venturini Fendi said she was inspired by Princess Anne, whom she called “the chicest woman in the world,” capable of “maintaining her femininity while wearing a uniform,” the epitome of masculinity.

“I liked the idea of breaking barriers, breaking the masculine and feminine codes, that don’t exist anymore. They shouldn’t exist anymore,’’ Venturini Fendi, the brand’s director of accessories and menswear, said backstage.

The outdoorsy silhouette and colour palette of moss, brown, slate gray, maroon, cornflower blue and mustard was reminiscent of a rainy day on Balmoral Estate in the Scottish highlands.

Underneath, loose trousers, long pleated Bermuda kilts and low-slung skorts in plaid blanket wool, gave and androgynous twist to tradition-bound aristocracy and contemporary streetwear.

The runway mood was casual, with jackets often flung over the arm rather than worn.

Venturini Fendi said the collection is about longevity, creating heirlooms, “to underline garments for life, not use and throw away.”

Princess Anne, who is president of the UK Fashion and Textile Association, also follows this principle.

The frugal royal has suggested clothing manufacturers might return to a period when garments could be altered for a new use rather than thrown away – in a bid to improve sustainability, while on a royal visit this week.

For three days Anne toured Sri Lanka with her husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, beginning in the capital Colombo where she visited MAS, a company producing sportswear and active clothing including tops for tennis star Novak Djokovich.

For the past 30 years it has also manufactured underwear and lingerie for Marks and Spencer.

Anne said: “You go through the phase when fashion was very structured and people followed fashion, but you had tailors and dressmakers who absolutely fundamentally made that, but you could also alter it because they had the skills to do so.

“Now you’ve got instant fashion which you then throw away, you don’t alter it because it wouldn’t be worthwhile.

“So whether we’ve got to relearn those skills, go back and say ‘actually, we need materials that can do more than one evolution of fashion’.”

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