The designer is set to present her debut collection for the brand during Milan Fashion Week next February.

Maria Grazia Chiuri, the Dior alum celebrated for her feminist vision, has been named chief creative officer of Fendi, set to present her debut collection for the brand during Milan Fashion Week next February.

Chiuri succeeds Silvia Venturini Fendi, who joined the family business in 1994, defined its accessories, expanded into menswear, and assumed womenswear after Kim Jones’s departure in 2024. Venturini Fendi, who now steps into the role of honorary president, worked for more than two decades alongside Karl Lagerfeld, whose 54-year tenure shaped the brand until his death in 2019. She oversaw both the centennial AW25 collection and the SS26 show unveiled at Milan Fashion Week last month.

For Chiuri, closing a decade at Dior with a Cruise 2026 destination show in her hometown of Rome in May was both a finale and a prelude. Her appointment is, in many ways, a homecoming: a return to the Eternal City where she was born in 1964 and has spent much of her life, and to the house where her career began.