Yahoo Finance Fendi has invited Italian artisans to reinterpret its iconic Baguette bag
Originally created in 1997 by Silvia Venturini Fendi, the Baguette is widely considered the very first ‘It’ bag, designed to be carried under the arm like its namesake French loaf. It has been reimagined over the decades in more than 1,000 iterations, and this year the Italian fashion house has added several more adaptations to its repertoire.
To honour the skills of local artisans, Fendi has invited a diverse group of craftspeople from ateliers across Italy to reinterpret the iconic design. The project, named ‘Hand in Hand’, has seen makers from Abruzzo and Sicily to Tuscany and Calabria transform the handbag into a timeless objet d’art. Each new design comes in a limited edition of 20, and the inside pocket of every bag in the series is marked with the atelier’s name and location, as well as Fendi’s golden Hand in Hand logo.
The Florentine maker Peroni has been crafting leather goods since 1956 and has moulded a single piece of leather, without lining or stitches, to form its glossy dark-brown bevelled Baguette. The bag’s signature FF buckle is also sheathed in leather, creating a seamless effect.
Luigi Bevilacqua, hailing from Venice, comes from a family with five centuries of experience crafting sublime Venetian textiles. For his interpretation, Bevilacqua has handwoven silk and cotton velvet on 18th-century looms. Lined in powder-pink silk and adorned with a floral brocade motif, his design conjures the vibrant spirit of his historic hometown.
Puglia’s Hand in Hand creation pays homage to the Dodino lace-makers from the village of Nardò. Fashioning a looped and knotted pattern using a traditional Apulian technique called chiacchierino, the lacework is formed over a cotton and linen base, appearing to float like clouds, while it is fastened by a buckle of lustrous seed pearls.
From Fendi’s hometown of Rome, a city with a rich history of marble marquetry and goldsmithing, is the master jeweller Massimo Maria Melis, whose boutique in the Via Dell’Orso has garnered an international following since first opening in 1982. Melis’ intricate Etruscan- and Roman-style jewellery incorporates ancient coins and glass, and for his edition of the Baguette, he has incorporated rare hand-carved marbles, gold flourishes and precious bronze coins from the Imperial Period.
Not only has the project culminated in the creation of a series of beautiful, impeccably made and artistically inspired Baguette bags, but it has also generated a strong network that connects exceptionally skilled makers looking to preserve their age-old crafts.
The Baguettes of Tuscany, Sardinia, Veneto and Puglia will be available in selected boutiques from November, and those from Marche, Umbria, Molise, Calabria, Lazio and Abruzzo will be available to pre-order the same month. The rest of the regions will be available from April 2021.
For more information on Fendi’s ‘Hand in Hand’ Baguette collaboration, visit www.fendi.com.
