Fendi 25 years of the Baguette. Image: Fendi

“It’s not a bag, it’s a Baguette,” Sarah Jessica Parker famously declared in Sex and the City. Silvia Venturini Fendi had a similar sartorial epiphany when she first designed the bag, revealing in the past, “It was a special day when I designed this bag; the stars aligned. The horoscope said it was a Fendi day.”

The luxury shoulder bag has become both a perennial statement in the wardrobe of Carrie Bradshaw and on the arms of women globally. A design combining both utility with hallmark design. On its 25th anniversary Fendi and a collection of designers have honoured the long heritage with a collection of surprising interpretations and a forthcoming pop up.

Bag yourself a baguette. Image: Fendi

Alongside Kim Jones and Silvia Venturini Fendi of the Italian fashion house, the likes of Marc Jacobs, Japanese luggage brand Porter, Tiffany & Co, and the aforementioned Parker lent their creative eye to a collaborative collection which was sent down the runway at New York Fashion Week in September. Worn by the likes of Lila Moss, Bella Hadid and supermodel icon Linda Evangelista, the silhouette formed a motif in sportswear-inspired clothing, in jewellery and with new dimensions of the shoulder bag.

At the recent resort show, the baguette became a motif to reinterpret. Image: Fendi

Now it will travel to Australia, for the country’s first ever Fendi pop up concept, at Chadstone Shopping Centre in the heart of Melbourne’s fashion district.  It’s set to be unmissable both in experience and grand scale with oversized Fendi Baguette bag sculptures framing the pop up. The space will house the collection as well as a display of memorable Baguette bag designs from the decades-long archive.

“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,” Jones says.

Jacobs add of the collaboration, “I’ve got one word: Fendiroma. And it is one word! It is another land, this Fendiroma…And I’ve got two words: The Baguette. It’s a bag – and I am never one to shy away from an iconic bag.”

An icon. Image: Fendi

The pop up concept will be open from November 14 until December 4.

Ground Floor, Chadstone Shopping Centre, 1341 Dandenong Road, Chadstone