The Fendi Baguette Turns 25

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Fendi Baguette lovers, this one's for you. Fendi announced their accessories campaign featuring Linda Evangelista on Instagram this past Saturday. Evangelista is photographed by Steven Meisel holding two sequin Baguette bags slung over her shoulder to stand out amongst her simple, gray sweater and satin baseball caps, and a gray-blue backdrop. 

In addition to the newly announced campaign, Fendi under the luxury house, LVMH Moët Hennessy, has confirmed a runway show honoring the Baguette bag in New York on Sept. 9. After two years of Kim Jones’s appointed position as artistic director of couture and womenswear, he has partnered with Marc Jacobs for this year’s fashion week which will include the bag of course. 

COURTESY OF FENDI

The bag was first introduced in 1997 by the great minds of Karl Lagerfeld and Silvia Venturini. Lagerfeld became artistic director in 1965 and took the brand to levels it never reached- worldwide. Venturini was the granddaughter of Fendi’s founders, Adele and Eduardo Fendi, and was appointed creative director of accessories in 1994. The inspiration of the bag originated from the way French women held the baguette bread under their arms when returning home from the bakery. The Baguette bag embodies the culture of a Parisian woman and its elegant, baton-like silhouette. 

From then on, the bag has been seen in different iterations including embroidered jacquard, sequins, denim, fur accents, hand painted, and leather versions. 

COURTESY OF JAMES DEVANEY/GC IMAGES

The bag became popular when it made an appearance in the hit show, “Sex and the City”, when Carrie Bradshaw was carrying around a purple sequined version of the bag. It has also been featured in the Sex and the City reboot, “And Just Like That…”

This accessory immediately became the “It” bag in the late ‘90s into the early ‘00s. People still wear the bag to tap into their Y2K nostalgia. With newer versions, the bag is evidently a timeless piece.