MILAN — Celebrations of the 25 anniversary of the Baguette bag are still on the rise at Fendi.
After the effervescent parade dedicated to the flagship event and organized in New York during fashion week, the brand is releasing a book paying tribute to its Hand in Hand initiative. Launching for the first time in 2020, the project aims to shine a light on Italian craftsmanship by using local artisans to reinvent the iconic bag that Fendi’s artistic director for accessories and menswear Silvia Venturini Fendi designed in 1997.
Last year, for the second edition of the initiative, Fendi opened the doors of its Roman headquarters Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana to the public for an exhibition featuring 20 one-of-a-kind Fendi Baguette bags that Venturini Fendi developed in collaboration with 20 workshops. and workshops, each located in an Italian region, from Trentino Alto Adige and Valle d’Aosta to Calabria and Sicily.
The book aims to further highlight these pieces as well as 10 additional creations, celebrating the work of 30 artisans. These have reinterpreted the bag’s signature rectangular design and its FF logo buckle with special techniques – such as mosaic, hand embroidery and weaving – and precious materials, ranging from vegetable leather, coral, filigree and marble chiselled in gold with wood, lace, brocade and peacock feathers. , to name a few.
Lorenzo Vitturi/Courtesy of Fendi
“I enjoy working on certain techniques that, to me, seem unchanged – and then observing how, working by hand, a mistake can become a virtue,” Venturini Fendi says in the book. “Indeed, an error can become the idea of an innovation. It is, I believe, couture today.
“Fendi ‘Hand in Hand’ is a couture initiative, as it features Baguette bags that will not be reproduced; it will be a limited series of unique pieces,” the designer says in the volume, further noting that the initiative “aims to perpetuate local traditions, the work of craftsmen and the transmission of know-how to new generations. Above all, sustainability is a question of human commitment, transparency and civil respect.”
Three people helped compile the tome, covering different topics. These include the art critic and curator Eugenio Viola, who has traced the evolution from craft to craft examining this development with a specific relationship to fashion, art and technology; fashion designer and author Orsola de Castro, who highlighted the value of looking back in order to move forward and highlighted why craftsmanship must be protected and preserved, and artist Aldo Bakker, who explored what constitutes a craft. Their texts are accompanied by images of the unique Baguette bags of Italian photographer and artist Lorenzo Vitturi.
Courtesy of Fendi
While a special handcrafted edition of the book made in 25 copies on paper made from Italian hemp fiber is not on sale at the moment, the printed version will retail for 80 euros on Fendi’s website from Thursday, coinciding with the launch of the 25th Anniversary Baguette. collection paraded during NYFW.
As noted, on this occasion, Fendi’s Artistic Director of Haute Couture, Ready-to-Wear and Women’s Fur Collections, Kim Jones, teamed up with Marc Jacobs to design the tribute looks. On the catwalk, new versions of the actual bag have come in Tiffany Blue, covered in Swarovski crystals or hand-cast sterling silver, as well as transformed into fanny packs, backpacks or nano pieces dangling from belt loops .
The show has attracted the likes of Kate Moss, Kim Kardashian, Christy Turlington Burns and Sarah Jessica Parker, who put the prop on the map in “Sex and the City,” in an episode where her character Carrie Bradshaw delivered the now famous phrase “it’s not a bag, it’s a Baguette. The show ended with a surprise appearance from model Linda Evangelista.
Courtesy of Fendi
Last month, Fendi also unveiled a new state-of-the-art accessories factory in Tuscany, Italy, which produces some of its signature bags, from the Baguette to the Peekaboo, and small leather goods. Based in Capannuccia, Bagno a Ripoli, a 30-minute drive from Florence, he telegraphs the fashion house’s ongoing commitment to environmental sustainability and social responsibility, offering improved efficiency and a beautiful location to work.