Everything
After teasing the world with their multi-collab extravaganza to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Baguette last year, Fendi have given the people what they wanted: a complete Marc Jacobs collaboration for their Summer 2023 capsule.
The collab is a perfect partnership between Jacobs’ investigation of clothing’s context in contemporary settings and the Baguette’s symbol of that same era. Comprising of both mens’ and womens’ ready-to-wear garments, it also investigates and applies the innate utility of the bag in the presence of pockets – literally pockets everywhere! – that resemble the shape of the Baguette and its fastenings.
The colour palette is pure Jacobs’ New York City – incidentally, the location of the anniversary show last September – with fluoro contrasted with the silvers and grey, black and white. The Fendi Roma logo has been reinterpreted by Jacobs and is a consistent presence throughout the collection. Fading through bleached denim ensembles or as a subtle jacquard on a dusty grey nylon polo shirt and trouser set. Lightweight sponge or cotton fabrics in chalk white feature the same lettering, while the Baguette pocket enlivens a hooded sweatshirt and a fluoro yellow t-shirt.
When Fendi celebrated the 25 years of the Fendi Baguette, the bag that everyone who was anyone had during the 90s, it set the scene for the Baguette to become a canvas for a specific vision that would be carried by the bag’s simple silhouette. Everyone from Sarah Jessica Parker to Tiffany & Co, and of course Marc Jacobs, reinterpreted its perspective through their specific lens.
When Silvia Venturini Fendi created the bag in 1997, it was a moment in design history comparable to the Boy Bag by Chanel, the Birken by Hermès or the infamous Juicy Salif by Philippe Starck. But its role in modern fashion history is perhaps even more important, with some crediting the Fendi Baguette as the first It Bag, from which all else followed.
