Taking inspiration from a moment in time, the house has switched from Milan to the city where the Baguette became a forever It-Bag, celebrating it through endless iterations, both in terms of clothing and accessories. In between uptown and downtown, luxury and utility, excess and reality, the Baguette, and the clothing and accessories it inspires, are at once defined as a moment in history and part of a continuum with today.
The essential utility of the bag becomes a multi-pocketed motif, migrating throughout the collection. A sense of hyper-luxe and glossy glamour pervades the collection. Baguettes on Baguettes stage the runway in every dimension, from mini pouches to micro, appearing on parkas to gaiters, covering socks, gloves and fluffy hats, also sported in sequinned versions, on double purses or clipped onto mini skirts. The Baguette is not entirely utilitarian after all, as the gaiters are made from silk satin, and that parka shaved mink or glossy leather; a stratification of sequins and biased cut silks are often layered beneath, adding a shimmer of art deco allure.
“It was a special day when I designed this bag; the stars aligned. The horoscope said it was a Fendi day.”
Marc Jacobs contrasts huge dimensions from another times with today humble origins. The gritty and shining New York cityscape is the inspiration for parachute train skirts, balloon-backed broken denim jackets, rustling cellophane opera capes and recycled fur stoles and hats. The glitter of rhinestones, silver, and fluro yellow pervades, becoming an example of ‘local colour’; inspired by the glass frontages and workman’s safety vests to be found on the city’s streets. Exaggerated, platformed and oversized, the take on the Baguette itself also shares something of these silhouettes’ grand gestures, replete with multiple mini versions of itself attached.
Tiffany, the storied New York institution, takes on the Baguette and reimagines it in its most precious of forms, through its use of sterling silver, enamel, croco, white gold and diamonds. Shining crocodile takes on the hue of Tiffany Blue, a colour which also permeates the Fendi clothing palette. The most spectacular pieces is an exclusive Baguette made entirely of stippled sterling silver. Crafted by hand over a period of four months by the Tiffany artisans, the bag is engraved with lilies and roses, the national flower of Italy and New York State, respectively. It is also the first of Fendi’s ‘Hand in Hand’ partnerships to come from outside Italy and is a measure of Tiffany & Co’s superlative craftsmanship.
“I didn’t want to do a traditional ‘collection’ for the anniversary. Rather it’s a celebration of a time, of the moment the Baguette became famous. I relate that time to a sense of freedom in excess and fun – both qualities the Baguette possesses.”
“It’s not a bag, it’s a Baguette,” declared Sarah Jessica Parker in Sex and the City, making it a pop culture symbol, and each bag from this collection bears an inscription of this iconic quote. Parker has been fused to the Baguette since it first appeared in season three of the series. Her capsule, designed alongside Silvia Venturini Fendi, introduced a softer color palette, embroideries in degradé sequins with hues of fuchsia, baby pink or soft blue and wasabi green. In contrast, the supreme utility of the Japanese luggage brand Porter, gives the Baguette a decidedly masculine bent. Known for their hard-wearing bonded nylon, together with precision Japanese craftsmanship, here lightness and functionality are key. The Porter collection is also a proponent of one of the Baguette’s latest incarnations: the Bum Baguette.
