Fendi staged a fashion show in N.Y.C to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Fendi Baguette bag on September 9th. During this most recent unveiling, three iconic designer brands were brought together that night. Fendi women’s designer Kim Jones invited the archetypal New York designer, Marc Jacobs, to embed his characteristic romantic streetwear mood in the collection. The designed ensembles feature the Tiffany & Co baguette in its trademark robin’s egg blue.
The It-bag from the late ’90s and early ’00s made its mark in pop culture history thanks to Sex and the City‘s Carrie Bradshaw. In an episode when Carrie gets mugged, Carrie corrected a thief who asked her to hand over her “bag” by saying, “It’s a Baguette.” In 2019, actress Sarah Jessica Parker, who played Bradshaw, starred in Fendi’s campaign relaunching the iconic bag.
That reduced, short-handled, frequently heavily adorned envelope has “its own personality and its own identity, it’s a little sexy bag,” in the words of the Baguette’s legendary designer, Silvia Fendi. The designer explains the bag arrived at an ideal time when everyone was sporting a little rucksack while she was looking for something that would defy the rules. Likening the bag to a delicious addictive treat: “They are so appealing you almost want to eat them, you want a chocolate one, and then a cream one, then a strawberry one!”
Jones describes the Baguette as one pillar of the house. “It became very famous. It was the It bag and the symbol of New York. I’ve always loved the vibe and energy of the city, the beauty in the way it regenerates itself,” he explains.
Jones admits that the collection he created for his ode to New York differs from the ones he displays in Italy. The sleeveless shirts and windbreakers with black sequins that are characteristic of New York fashion have a streetwise understanding. One cannot help but notice the Tiffany Blue hue, somewhere between sky and aqua, is present in everything from gauzy asymmetrical skirts to chic jumpsuits. “Well, the Tiffany flagship in New York is near the Fendi flagship. They are blue, and Fendi is yellow, so there’s a synergy,” beams Jones.
Jacobs could offer runway designs that expanded on his recent experimentation with proportion and an unmatched visual study on the logo. The bag now reads “The Baguette” over “Fendi Roma,” echoing the typography he used to decorate his enormously successful “The Tote Bag.” He explains, “I kind of mixed the two, it’s a link between Fendi and our own product.” Jacobs’ clothing designs for Fendi include Baguette-shaped pockets with double Fs and other details that allude to the baguette.
Kim Kardashian, sporting blonde hair and a figure-hugging sheer and sequined dress, sat in the front row, but the baguettes on the catwalk stole the show. There was a plethora of baguettes, from big to nano-sized, shiny, fluffy, sparkly and smooth to all shapes and styles. The mood was a mix of formal and informal, with sequins and hoodies.
The show was closed by supermodel Linda Evangelista, who is currently having a well-earned return to the fashion limelight. She strutted down the runway in a dramatic cape gown in the distinctive Tiffany blue hue may have been the most heartwarming moment. Jones, Jacobs, Silvia Venturini, Fendi, and Delfina Delettrez all joined her.
