“IT” BAG TO NY: Fendi took Instagram by storm Saturday, unveiling an accessories campaign fronted by Linda Evangelista to celebrate its signature Baguette bag’s 25th anniversary.
In addition to sharing campaign imagery, the luxury house controlled by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton said it will hold a runway show in New York on Sept. 9 to mark the bag’s anniversary which will come two years after Kim Jones joined the storied house as artistic director of couture and womenswear.
No other details on the show were available at press time. However, sources have told WWD that Jones is working on a collaboration with Marc Jacobs that could be unveiled during New York Fashion Week in September, which implies that the Baguette will somehow be part of it.
Instagram netizens praised the campaign in which Evangelista is photographed by Steven Meisel against a grey backdrop holding two sequin-covered Baguette bags in different sizes paired with a grey sweater and satin baseball caps stockpiled on her head.
The supermodel casts a diva gaze behind her pink-hued sunglasses and had fans on social media cheering her return in front of the camera.
First introduced in 1997 by Silvia Venturini Fendi, artistic director of accessories and menswear, the Baguette has been the ideal canvas for many creative iterations over the years, including denim, embroidered jacquard, sequined, fur accented, hand painted versions and even a scented one introduced in 2019.
The accessory ignited the “It” bag craze and is currently enjoying momentum like other bags from the late ‘90s and early Aughts, tapping into Y2K nostalgia.
Back in the days its popularity was cemented after Sarah Jessica Parker’s character in the hit series “Sex and the City” sported a sequined purple version. She returned to show her love for the accessory in 2019 when Fendi debuted the #BaguetteFriendsForever communication project.
