Within the Palais Brongniart—the historical home of the Paris stock exchange—Fendi’s Kim Jones presented a collection modeled on the axis of past, present and future. The blindingly optic-white set offered a blank canvas for a collection so refined as to inch towards simplicity at first glance, only to be revealed as rare fabrications rendered through the precision craftsmanship of couture tradition.

The collection’s first three tailored exits were realized in Vicuña wool from the Andes woven by Loro Piana in Italy. Snatches of Japanese silk hand-printed and hand-painted Kata-Yuzen fabric were commissioned by traditional makers in Kyoto, inspired by patches of 17th century kimono fabric Jones found on a trip to Japan in March, and all looks—even sheer styles, weighted with thousands of rolled bugle-beads—were suffused with lightness, falling from the body in easy silhouettes.

The presentation saw the introduction of a preview of Fendi’s first ever high jewelry collection, designed by Fendi heiress and artistic director of jewelry, Delfina Delettrez. The one-of-a-kind parure explores expressions of light and movement through pavé and baguette white diamonds, finished with the house’s inverted FF monogram in natural yellow baguette diamonds on each design.

“This season, I wanted to step away from Rome, or at least I wanted to place Rome in a global context,” says Jones in the show notes. “In this collection, we are looking at fragments of different cities, namely Kyoto, Paris and Rome. The fragmentary nature of things is echoed throughout the collection, like snatches of memory or the impression of things past, present, and future.”