Chiara Ferragni’s Fashion Week Return Post-Scandals, Divorce

Italian fashion mega-influencer Chiara Ferragni was back at runway shows for the first time in over a year following allegations of fraud (which she has described as a “communication error”) and a highly publicized divorce. Last week in Paris, Ferragni attended the Stella McCartney and Schiaparelli shows, posting along the way for her more than 28 million Instagram followers. The week before in Milan, she showed up for Dsquared2, Roberto Cavalli, and a few other emerging Italian designers.

Ferragni’s lucrative influencer career came to a screeching halt at the end of 2023, when Italy’s Competition Authority accused her of misleading the public about charitable donations related to the sale of Pandoro Christmas cakes. That scandal kicked off an avalanche of tough headlines for Ferragni, who lost over 150,000 followers and was dropped by several major brand partners while going through a messy divorce from Federico Leonardo Lucia, a popular Italian rapper known as Fedez. A year ago, it was unclear how her €75 million empire could recover from the fallout. Would she ever be welcome at the top Paris shows again, let alone advertise for them?

My bet was always yes, eventually, given fashion gatekeepers’ track record for forgiving and forgetting all sorts of controversial behavior. And given the continued public interest in Ferragni, from Reddit to TikTok to the Italian tabloids. But Ferragni is not behind her scandals yet. She is awaiting trial related to her alleged fraud and is still dealing with continuing stories about her former relationship.

Here are the highlights of what you may have missed from the last tumultuous year in Ferragni’s life.

Who is Chiara Ferragni?

Ferragni is one of the original fashion bloggers. As a fashion-obsessed law-school student in 2009, she launched her blog, The Blonde Salad. The blog grew a devoted audience quickly, thanks to Ferragni’s early timing, work ethic, and willingness to post about her personal life. (It also helped that she wrote her posts in both English and Italian.) In 2011, she released her first line of licensed shoes. While many luxury brands initially thought she and the other rising bloggers were too tacky to work with, Ferragni soldiered through. By 2014, her 3 million followers on Instagram validated her appeal, and her business expanded to include her magazine-style blog, her many product lines, and personal endorsements. In 2015, she was the first blogger to appear on a cover of Vogue (for Vogue Spain). Her wedding to Fedez in 2018, a massive social-media event, cemented her as the Kim Kardashian of Italy and was supported by brands like Dior and Valentino. The family was soon ubiquitous on television, magazines, and social media, where they documented their lavish lifestyle and adorable young children, Leone and Vittoria. In 2021, the reality show The Ferragnez debuted, following Ferragni’s family life with Fedez and their kids and his music career, as well as her family (her sisters are influencers too).

All this attention was great for Ferragni’s business. In 2023, months before the scandal broke, an Italian firm announced that it had agreed to buy 25 percent of Ferragni’s main holding company, Fenice, valuing it at €75 million.

By then, Ferragni had earned a reputation for using her celebrity status to raise money for needed causes in Italy. So it was especially scandalous when she was accused of donation-related fraud tied to some Pandoro Christmas cakes in December of that year.

Sorry, did you say a Christmas-cake scandal?

The Italian Competition Authority accused Ferragni of misleading the public in 2022 when she advertised the Pandoras to her followers. The group argued that her messaging made it seem like proceeds from each purchase would benefit a children’s hospital. Instead, the group’s investigation found that cake manufacturer Balacco made a single €50,000 donation to the hospital in addition to paying Ferragni her million-euro fee for the collaboration. The fact that the cakes were more expensive than the average Pandoro (€9 versus €3) only made social media commenters angrier. The Italian authorities slapped Ferragni with a €1 million fine, but the hit to her reputation was far worse.

Ferragni initially responded with an emotional video on Instagramdescribing the alleged fraud as a “communication error.” She said she would donate her influencer fee to the hospital, described the sanction as “disproportionate and unfair,” and promised to appeal the decision.

The video, as you can probably guess, did not go over well. Her followers criticized her makeup (too much), her gray cashmere sweatsuit (too expensive), and her response (unrepentant). In the weeks and months that followed, many of Ferragni’s brand partners — including Pantene, Coca-Cola, and licensing firm Safilo — reportedly canceled their deals with her. She stepped down from the board of directors at Tod’s and closed her namesake store in Milan. The previously announced investment in her company never went through.

Meanwhile, speculation spread online that Ferragni was being investigated for additional fraud charges tied to other charitable brand collaborations, including chocolate Easter eggs and Oreos. By the end of 2024, she had paid a total of €3.4 million to settle and resolve investigations against her — including the €1 million fine for the Pandoro allegations, the €1 million to the hospital that the collaboration benefited, and another €1.2 million to the children’s autism organization that was tied to the Easter-egg sales. Ferragni also settled with a consumer group that represented Pandoro customers, paying each of them €150 and donating €200,000 to a women’s charity. Ferragni’s company promised to “refrain from carrying out operations in which commercial activities are connected to charitable activities.” She parted ways with her longtime manager.

And her husband left her around the same time?

Yes. Reports broke in February 2024 that Fedez was done with their six-year marriage and had moved out of the couple’s lavish Zaha Hadid–designed City Life apartment in downtown Milan.

As soon as they split, Ferragni stopped posting their kids on Instagram — leading to speculation that her desire to share them publicly had been a point of contention with Fedez. When they finalized their divorce in November, the Italian press reported that the former couple agreed to get each other’s permission to post their kids online. (Ferragni last posted them on her IG feed around the holidays, but blocked their faces.)

Ferragni and Fedez seem to have moved on with other partners. Still, the decline of their relationship remains a hot topic in Italy, dogged by claims of infidelity during the marriage on both sides.

And now Ferragni is suing someone for defamation?

Yes, a paparazzo turned gossip commentator named Fabrizio Corona, who described himself as a close friend of Fedez’s. In January and February, Corona used his podcast, falsissimo, to spill some alleged dirt on the former couple, claiming (among other things) that Ferragni cheated on Fedez during the marriage and Fedez had spent the entire marriage pining for another woman. One of Ferragni’s alleged affairs was with another skinny Italian rapper named Achille Lauro. Who knew Italy had so many Machine Gun Kelly types floating around?

Ferragni responded with a lengthy statement on Instagram Stories (now deleted), saying that she never cheated during her marriage and that she had stayed with Fedez despite knowing about at least one “betrayal in those very days (just one of many evidently).” Ultimately, she said, he was the one who dumped her to protect his image in the wake of her fraud scandal. She claimed that in December 2024, Fedez called her and confessed that he had been having an affair since 2017. He said he had considered leaving her a few days before their highly publicized 2018 wedding, but “didn’t know how to publicly back out.”

She continued, “My relationship with Federico was real for me. I have never been in an open relationship (it was evidently only open for the other party without me knowing) and, despite everything, I am proud to have loved him unconditionally.”

Fedez, who has faced his own legal issues this past yearalso responded on Instagram Storieswriting that he married Chiara “with conviction” but had made mistakes. He said he regretted ever confiding in Corona and did not want Corona to go public with any information about his marriage.

Ferragni has since said she is suing Corona for defamationasking for €1.1 million in damages.

What’s up with Ferragni’s cake case now?

Prosecutors in Milan have decided to put Ferragni on trial for fraud in September 2025, according to Reuters. They will be looking at both the Pandoro and Easter egg collaborations. If convicted, Ferragni could face up to five years in prison. “In the end, I didn’t do anything,” she told a reporter in a quick exchange outside a recent fashion show in Milan. “Something I wouldn’t do again? Well, many things, like trusting the wrong people, that’s all.”

And how about Ferrgani’s businesses?

Ferragni has stepped down as CEO of her holding company, which includes a talent agency for influencers, real estate, her licensed product brands, and her Blonde Salad website, among other businesses. The new CEO, Claudio Roberto Calabi, has experience in restructuring and turnarounds.

Ferragni still has one store in Rome that sells her lines of clothing, accessories, and makeup. And she’s recently started influencing again, signing on as an ambassador for Spanish beauty brand Goa Organics and appearing on the cover of Ellen Romania, in a very clearly disclosed ad for the Romanian fashion brand Manokhi.

Nor for romance, Ferragni has also moved on. Last summer, she was linked to Golden Goose CEO Silvio Campara. But recently, the tabloids speculated that she’s seeing Giovanni Tronchetti, an entrepreneur whose family controls Pirelli. Not that you’ll see him on her Instagram, where Ferragni now almost exclusively keeps her content drama-free, focused instead on her outfits and frequent travels.