For Maria Grazia Chiuri’s first couture collection, Fendi has announced that its Fall/Winter 2026/27 runway show will take place at the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rome. The event is scheduled for July 9.
A milestone event. As Maria Grazia Chiuri makes her couture debut at Fendi, the Roman fashion house has announced that its upcoming Fall/Winter 2026/27 runway show will take place at the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea (the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art), a venue located in the heart of the Italian capital, which is also the creative director’s hometown.
The collection will be presented on Thursday, July 9, 2026. On this occasion, guests will have the privilege of attending a preview of the exhibition “After, a Creative Journey. Fendi / Karl Lagerfeld 1985”, which traces the long creative collaboration between the fashion house and the former creative director of Chanel. The event will open to the public the following day and run through October 25, 2026.
Fendi had announced this Rome fashion show last April but had kept the venue a secret. In 2016, the capital hosted Fendi’s iconic 90th-anniversary fashion show at the Trevi Fountain.
Maria Grazia Chiuri and museums: a great love story
“This is excellent news for our city, which has regained its prominent place in the fashion world over the past four years,” Alessandro Onorato, Rome’s city councilor for tourism, major events, fashion, and sports, told the website RomaToday. He also welcomed Maria Grazia Chiuri’s arrival at Fendi, noting that the presentation of her first couture collection for the brand represents “a double triumph to celebrate (…) with highly anticipated images that will be seen around the world”.
This is not the first time that Maria Grazia Chiuri has chosen a museum as the setting for her collections. While at Dior, she had already placed art at the center of her focus by presenting her haute couture collections on several occasions at the Rodin Museum in Paris.
As Creative Director at Fendi since October 2025, Maria Grazia Chiuri is once again returning to the roots of her early days in fashion when she first worked at the Roman house in 1989. Succeeding Karl Lagerfeld, Kim Jones, and Silvia Venturini Fendi, the designer caused a sensation at her very first show for the brand during Milan Fashion Week last February. She even received a standing ovation. A feat she will no doubt repeat for the couture show next July.
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Featured picture: © Ivan Bassis / UNSPLASH
