15 Things You Didn't Know About FENDI

Fifteen things you didn't know about Fendi. Welcome to A Luxe Calm, the place where future billionaires come to get inspired. Hello, Alexers! It's nice to have you back for another original brand video. We love iconic luxury brands, and you don't get much more luxurious than Italian fashion house Fendi, founded in Rome in 1925 by a husband-and-wife team. Fendi began as a maker of leather goods and furs. Ninety years later, they create women's wear, menswear, kids' clothes, and stunning runway looks to boot, all made in Italy and beautifully luxurious. The brand has become known for its Italian aesthetic, bold shades, tactile materials, and unique textures, with supermodel Kendall Jenner fronting their latest women's wear campaign.

Because A Luxe Calm is dedicated to being the world's best resource on the most incredible luxury goods, we decided to show why Fendi has become such a celebrity favorite.

Number one: Fendi was the first handbag and first store in Via del Plebiscito, Rome. The brand was founded in 1925 and originally specialized in just furs and leather goods. Via del Plebiscito is still home to various traditional Italian stores, but Fendi's Roman flagship store has since moved to Largo Carlos Goldoni, alongside the world's biggest labels.

Number two: Fendi's first ready-to-wear collection featured a dress that could be worn 365 days a year. Sandy's stuck to what they knew best when they launched their first line of women's wear in 1977: leathers and furs. They created the 365, a dress that could be worn every day and coordinate with a woman's fur and handbag collection without her having to change a thing.

Number three: Sandy's current creative director, Karl Lagerfeld, has an assistant to follow him around with his favorite drink, Pepsi Max. Karl Lagerfeld is one of the biggest names in fashion, currently at the helm of both Fendi and Chanel, as well as his own label. He's never seen without sunglasses; apparently, he hates selfies, thinks his cat is the greatest thing in the world, and has an assistant carry his Pepsi Max around on a silver tray.

Number four: Founders Adele and Eduardo Fendi had five daughters who all worked in the family business. The Fendi brand became a matriarchy when the couple's five daughters took over the business. The sisters were all a major part of the business from a very young age, educated in fashion and retail. Karla Fendi is even quoted as saying, "Accessories were our first choice."

Number five: The main reason Fendi started creating women's wear was because they needed something to dress their fur models in. When it came to walking their models down the runway, Fendi didn't know what to dress them in other than their famous furs. This was one of the reasons they started creating a women's wear collection, looking for something that would complement their fur collection and deciding that it was probably for the best that they took care of it themselves.

Number six: The Fendi baguette was made famous in part by Sex in the City. Fendi loaned a baguette to HBO's Sex in the City when the bag was first launched in the mid-1990s. It became the center of an episode, and despite already selling well, the bag soared in popularity. Before then, Fendi was less well known in the US, but their profile soon grew.

Number seven: The Fendi sisters have had 11 children and more than 30 grandchildren, but they're not always the happiest of families. The Fendi family is huge and very strong, but it's rumored that their relationship started to grow increasingly more tense as the business progressed into the 1990s. Karl Lagerfeld commented on the disputes, saying five sisters was too much and they were not speaking.

Number eight: Sylvia Venturini Fendi started off in the brand's gift-wrapping department when she was just eight years old. Sylvia Venturini Fendi is the daughter of Anah Fendi and the current creative director of accessories and menswear for the brand. Her first role in the company was way down in gift-wrapping, where she began at just eight years old. Like her mother and aunts, she was instructed in fashion and joined the Fendi brand at a very early age.

Number nine: Fendi are the first fashion brand to stage a runway on the Great Wall of China. The fashion extravaganza was hosted in October 2007 and featured 88 models walking 88 meters along one of the great wonders of the world. The number of models and length of the runway were chosen because eight is a lucky number in Chinese culture.

Number ten: Fendi inadvertently got Naomi Campbell fired as a spokesperson for PETA. Campbell posed for PETA's "I'd rather go naked than wear fur" campaign at the start of her career in 1994 but annoyed the charity quite a bit by walking the red carpet of a Fendi opening in Fox Firm. The Italian brand specialized in fur garments, as well as accessories, leather goods, and ready-to-wear.

Number eleven: Kanye West interned for the brand in 2009. Incredibly, Kanye West enrolled in Fendi's intern program to learn more about fashion from inside the Roman label. He launched his own fashion collection two years later after some valuable experience going on coffee runs for the Fendi staff. By the way, if you're a fan of Kanye, check out our video, "15 things you didn't know about Kanye West."

Number twelve: Each Fendi sister had their own role in the company after their father's death in 1954. Anna was in charge of leather goods; Franca took care of public relations; Carla was the business coordinator and known for being the most organized; Paulo was in charge of furs; and Aldo was head of the sales department. Now that's the family business.

Number thirteen: A huge portrait of Adele Fendi was installed in the brand's first major office. To keep the company's founder and their mother at the forefront of their mind, the Fendi sisters had a portrait of her commissioned in 1964 for their office on Via Bordeaux in Rome. Their mother kept a watchful eye over everything, even if it was just in spirit.

Number fourteen: Before she took over the business, Sylvia Venturini Fendi was a Roman party girl. Sylvia was involved in the business from a young age, but by the time she was 15, she was also a renowned party girl known all over town. She would regularly travel to New York to sell the Fendi collection and party at Studio 54 in, of course, a Fendi cocktail dress.

Number fifteen: The Fendi sisters were universally dressed in navy and black by their mother. When the Fendi sisters were children, they were apparently mistaken for orphans quite regularly because their mother, Adele Fendi, would insist on dressing them in matching black and navy outfits. Even as children, they had to be chic.

Fendi is, without a doubt, a fashion dynasty, beginning as a tiny fur shop and expanding into a global brand. The force behind it is the family's connection and dedication. Their clothes and accessories are all about drama, creativity, and that archetypal Italian style that so many of us wish we could pull off.

If you could just drop a few thousand on a gorgeous Fendi bag, would you make it like Samantha Jones and get a gold baguette, or would you prefer the gorgeous and classic Peekaboo tote?

Oh, you're still here! Well, here's another amazing fact about Fendi just for you: Karl Lagerfeld has become such an integral part of the Fendi label that he's sometimes referred to as the sixth sister.

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