Fendi brings a reenactment and reimagining of the original 1985 exhibition “Steps Through Work. Fendi/Karl Lagerfeld” to the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Rome, Italy, from July 10 through Oct. 25.

The exhibition documents and celebrates the first 20 years of the astounding collaboration between Fendi and Karl Lagerfeld, as well as the legacy he left behind. Conceived by Fendi’s Chief Creative Officer Maria Grazia Chiuri, the exhibition is one of the first dedicated to a fashion house as notable as Fendi to be held in a museum in Italy.

Though the exhibition and the works within it have never been the subject of scholarly study, they invite museumgoers to revisit and study Lagerfeld’s work. It recreates the physical presence of the original exhibition while engaging a new audience and beginning a new relationship with fashion lovers.

The exhibition consists of displays from the original 1985 exhibition that have been recreated as faithfully as possible. It examines how the fur-making process has persisted and remained largely unchanged for over 40 years. There are nearly 164 sketches selected from the approximately 2,000 drawn by Lagerfeld during his 20-year collaboration with Fendi, as well as 18 fur pieces displayed on moving mannequins. Missing objects, such as certain fur pieces and toiles from the 1985 exhibition, have been replaced by heritage reproductions or similar pieces from around the same period. There is also a selection of 1985 press coverage and articles by art historians and critics, such as Giulio Carlo Argan, Maurizio Calvesi, Achille Bonito Oliva, and Vittorio Sgarbi.

The Matrici Progettuali, or Design Frameworks, section introduces the viewer to a room featuring all the important stages of design, from sketch to toile to pattern. Next is the Tavolette, or Sample Boards, section, showcasing 20 years of Fendi fur experimentation through sample boards featuring inlays, woven constructions, topstitching, lacquered finishes, and front/reverse techniques that are almost identical to those in the 1985 version. Then there is Caleidoscopio, or Kaleidoscope, where five collections are presented within an octagon, showing finished pieces born from the ideas and processes explored throughout other parts of the exhibition. The closing installation, Pettine, or Comb, sequences the process of turning an initial sketch into a finished garment.

To achieve the reenactment, some sections had to be reconfigured due to the varying availability of space within the museum. But the point is not to completely recreate the exhibition from decades ago; it is to recontextualize it. Lagerfeld’s ideas and the stunning works he created are considered and seen in a new way that immortalizes both.