The 2000s Fendi Fringe Baguette: Mirrors, Beads and Green Embroidery

The Fendi Baguette was designed to be carried under the arm, close to the body, the way a French loaf is carried home from the baker. Its shape stayed the same from season to season; what changed was its surface. This Baguette in white canvas, worked with bright green embroidery, beads, small mirrors and a fringe across the front, shows how far that surface could be pushed.

Fendi and the Baguette

Fendi was founded in Rome in 1925 by Adele and Edoardo Fendi, with a handbag shop and a fur workshop. Their five daughters later took the business forward, and from 1965 Karl Lagerfeld worked with the house on its furs and ready-to-wear. In the 1990s, the founders' granddaughter Silvia Venturini Fendi took charge of accessories, and in 1997 she introduced the Baguette.

According to LVMH, the bag's small, flat shape and short strap were meant to be worn tucked under the arm. It was produced in many versions, in different materials and decorations. The constant shape made each version immediately recognisable, while the decoration made each one different.

Craft on the surface

This example belongs to the decorative side of the Baguette's history. Its ground is white canvas and cord fabric, over which the bag is worked with bright green embroidery, beads and small mirrors, and finished at the front with a fringe in the same green. Mirror work and beading of this kind belong to long traditions of hand embroidery in many parts of the world, and the Baguette offered a compact surface on which such techniques could be displayed.

Inside, the bag is lined in bright yellow satin, a strong contrast to the white and green exterior, with an internal pocket. A clutch closure secures the flap, and an adjustable strap in white leather allows the bag to be carried under the arm or on the shoulder.

The object

The Archivary describes the bag as a Fendi Baguette in white canvas with cord fabric, fringes, beads and mirror details, with bright green embroidered work and frontal fringes, a yellow satin interior and an adjustable white leather strap. It measures 24 by 5 by 16 centimetres, or 36 centimetres including the strap. Its condition is recorded as very good, with some signs of use inside and no damage.

The listing's title places the bag in the 2000s, while its condition notes refer to the 1990s. Given the Baguette's introduction in 1997, either is possible, and we describe it as a piece of the late 1990s or 2000s.