March 13th, 2017 | A Fendi Roma case study with Pietro Beccari, Chairman and CEO of Fendi
On March 13, GRLA had the honor of hosting Pietro Beccari, the Chairman and CEO of Fendi: one of the leading fashion houses in the world. Beccari has been the CEO of Fendi for the last five years, since 2012, and has contributed greatly to its unwavering success. Today, Fendi is everywhere. Its inventive campaigns are spread in Vogue, its bug eyed backpacks are strapped onto socialites, and its fur monster charms dangle all over social media. Fendi has flourished in a time that hasn’t been easy on the luxury market, with brands such as Burberry and Prada feeling the friction. How did Fendi stay on top? Beccari told all.
He is an extremely charismatic and down-to-earth speaker, and made his audience of around 400 people feel at home whilst giving his Fendi Roma Case Study. Having been informed through the grapevine (our very own Georgina Zegna) that many of us had just returned from our Spring Break trip, Beccari started his talk with a little stand up comedy about our adventures in Playa Del Carmen. He moved onto describing the brand’s history, as he explained that whilst he ‘reinvented’ the brand, he never strayed away from its original vision; in fact, he moved closer towards it. Beccari recounted how the house of Fendi was founded in 1925, and marveled at how the Fendi sisters and Karl Lagerfeld gave the marketplace of fur a makeover, transforming fur from an outdated symbol of bourgeois wealth to a wonderland that epitomized fun, femininity and luxury.
When appointed CEO, Beccari told us how he clung onto this original vision, and decided to bring luxury back to the brand. He explained how pricing within the fashion house has changed to reflected that people who are buying Fendi are not buying necessities, but rather are buying into luxury. In other words, they are buying into the idea of Fendi and the community it represents.
Beccari showed us how he injected fun back into Fendi’s bloodstream. He made the bold and ingenious move of removing the famous double F logo from Fendi’s products, which allowed room for flourishing creativity and inventiveness: red wavy stripes, blue fur pompoms, yellow bug eyes, and pink monster charms. He also oversaw the ethereal and unprecedented Fashion Show last summer, where the likes of Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid walked on water at the Fontana di Trevi in Rome.
Beccari also talked about renovation and cohesion. He showed us the importance of smart investments, as he spent millions on the renovation of major Fendi stores around the world, including stores in New York, London, Milan, and Shanghai. He created the impressive Palazzo Fendi, located on my favorite shopping street in Rome, Via Del Corso, where the Palazzo holds the largest Fendi boutique in the world, the Fendi private suites, the Palazzo Privé, and even Zuma, an international restaurant. He also emphasized the cohesion of the company, and so moved the previous offices of Fendi under one roof, to establish headquarters in the impressive Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana in Rome, dubbed the modern Colosseum.
Pietro Beccari impressed us all with his incredible success in the last five years, and the resultant success of Fendi. Not only did we leave impressed, but we also left genuinely inspired, as his natural charisma and ambition was incredibly powerful. Eighty of us also left with gift bags courtesy of Fendi! Thank you, to Mr. Beccari and the Fendi team for what was an incredible event!