POP 188 Friday, 18 December 2009

Today’s Pop is Ivana who has just touched down after a fortnight of Miami madness. Between launches, lunches and lots of lovely parties, she caught up with the inspirational Michael Burke, President of Fendi for THEPOP.COM’s quick fire 5.

Who: Fendi President Michael Burke
Location: Design/ Miami, Art Basel Miami
Date: Dec 2009
Interview by: Ivana Kalafatic

Weather – Hazy, muggy, too hot to be outside
Dress – Lacoste polo shirt, black jeans, black blazer, lovely wife
Setting – vast cool glass paneled conference room

Sitting with Mr. Burke our conversation drifted from bourgeois society to Roman history. With an insatiable appetite for art, culture, design, fashion and history, I came to find out the native Floridian real estate developer promptly gave up his daily business when asked by Bernard Arnault to join the soon to be mega fashion empire of LVMH in 1986. Arnault was wise enough then to see something in Mr. Burke, so we sat down to find our for ourselves what that something special is. Below are Mr. Burke’s five answers to five questions about Fendi. Mr. Burke likes the number five. Fendi doesn’t seem to mind it so much either. Seems to be a lucky number.

IK: Why is the number five such a lucky number for Fendi?

MB: Five Fendi sisters. Via del Leoncino 5 Rome. A full five years (OK six) of being at the helm of one of fashions most exciting brands.

IK: Fendi’s positioning in the luxury market is unique, and for some, a mystery. Enlighten us on the underlying tendencies unique to the brand.

MB: Historically, Rome is an aristocratic system, unlike Milan, or even New York which are bourgeois cities and systems; ones that build off their nouveau image and newly made wealth. An aristocratic system comes with layers, this imbalance of attributes works in parallel with the unique and contradictory elements of Fendi. Silvia Fendi, who designs the accessories and men’s collection, sits at the desk next to Karl (Lagerfeld), the company’s Creative Director. She likes the contradictory aspect of perfecting imperfection. They both do. Silvia sees Fendi living hand in hand with the seeming imperfections of purposefully unfinished quality – the clever “craft” of the brand is what she is drawn to. Karl is visionary at bringing so many of these elements to life for us. It is these layers that I find most appealing in Fendi, and this is what I feel draws most people in offering a welcome element of surprise that is unique to us.

Another element of surprise is the personification of modern Baroque in Fendi. When visiting our stores you see the swirling collision of color, form, texture and shape – like a modern Rubens vision; this is Fendi. But this perfected freedom of creative vision also comes with its challenges.

I most look forward to the day when Fendi will be recognized for this trait as opposed to having to explain this facet of our company. Once this is accomplished, I will know I have achieved one of my main goals for the brand.

As for our extended businesses, few know that Fendi Casa is an older and more successful business then that of other fashion brand’s furniture lines. You may also not know that the Baquette – the industry’s first “It” bag, Silvia Fendi designed, has sold over 600,000 since its inception in 1998. We are forever about surprises, quality and luxury. True luxury is about being made by hand. That was always the essence of Fendi. As original fur retailers we understand what that means.

IK: There must be a story behind what do the two inverted “F’s” in the logo represent. Where did this concept originate?

MB: In 1965 Karl Lagerfeld was cutting a revolutionary angle for fashion with Fendi when he began to mix hi and low fashion. Up to this moment, furs were only worn to formal occasions or in dignified settings, Karl soon began pairing them with jeans and casual fashion. This prompted him to simplify the idea of turning furs to fun, so he made the symbol for Fendi the inverted “F’s”, quite simply for “Fun Furs.” This does not seem like a big deal now – but then it was a revolution.

When Karl began designing for Fendi, he saw he had an opportunity to begin something from scratch. Unlike other fashion houses where the brand is iconosized by the original designer for example at Yves Saint Laurent or even Chanel, at Fendi he was let loose. He is a tremendous part of the essence of Fendi. We thrive on utter creativity, a perfected imperfection, and he personifies that vision for Fendi. Together it is magic.

IK: To enhance the uniqueness of the brand, one of the most difficult elements to maintain a handle on is the authenticity of a company’s employees. What is the personality dynamic you search for in the individual’s you hire for Fendi?

MB: I don’t hire on resume. I believe in an “immigrant mentality” – this is a fighter’s point of view on life. I like that. People that have this thinking are more prone to push harder for what they believe in without simply settling for just anything that comes their way. They are many times more clever and creative and resourceful then the rest. This stems back to the original retail business of Fendi. We were a retailer first, a fashion brand second, and it is this evolution that has brought out the unique sensibility of our vision.

It takes the most work to solidify the sense of company values from top down – today we have that. Although we strive for freedom at every level, encouraging our authentic humanistic values, from a corporate level we stress utter diligence in our output. This was very clear when we staged one of the greatest fashion events of all time, the fashion show on the Great Wall of China. It took a honed and solid team to produce that. Many said it couldn’t be done, but we didn’t hear those naysayers, and look at the beauty that was achieved.

IK: Do you enjoy what you do?

MB: What do you think?

Just imagine what the next five (ok six), years will bring…

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