The hearts of ardent Sex and the City fans were pounding this week as Carrie Bradshaw returned to the streets of Manhattan in a video touting the relaunch of the Fendi Baguette, the original “It bag.” Meanwhile, quieter preparations were afoot for a celebration of the 10th anniversary of Fendi’s Peekaboo bag. The contrast was apt: Whereas the Baguette was splashy, a cultural phenom that earned its own SATC storyline and came in collectible versions, like luxury Beanie Babies, the Peekaboo was the opposite—a discreet, classic satchel. Thus, no viral campaign for the Peekaboo this time, but rather a limited edition of 10 bags redesigned by Delfina Delettrez Fendi, to be sold at The Webster, and a VIP dinner to fete the project. That dinner is tonight, to be held at a penthouse apartment in the Flatiron district; yesterday, as they pondered seating arrangements for the event, Delettrez Fendi, her mother, Silvia Venturini Fendi, and The Webster’s Laure Hériard Dubreuil chatted about matters bag-related, including the question of whether there’s even such thing as an It bag anymore.
How did this project come about?
Silvia Venturini Fendi: The best way, which is by accident. Laure was on holiday with us—
Laure Hériard Dubreuil: Were we swimming?
SVF: And she was talking about, “Oh, this is the 10 years of The Webster. What should I do?” And I said, “Well, you know, we have a 10-year anniversary too, the Peekaboo. Maybe we do something together?” Really, that’s always how the good ideas happen—when you’re with friends, not working but also . . . you know, working, because you’re friends and you talk about work. And Delfina—
Delfina Delettrez Fendi: I was listening. To them talk.
LHD: So, of course, we wanted her to be involved!
DDF: [to Silvia] I enjoyed stealing your job for a couple of days.
SVF: Now I expect to be invited to do jewelry for you.
LHD: You see how it happens? Talking.
Before we get into Delfina’s changes to the Peekaboo, let’s discuss the original. When it came out 10 years ago, it kind of seemed like a riposte to the Baguette.
SVF: Absolutely—it was a response. Fashion always works like that, doesn’t it? When we launched the Baguette, it was after this period of minimalism, the thing everybody wanted was, like, the Prada nylon backpack. Very simple. And all you had was leather bags and nylon bags, and the Baguette—it was new because it was fashion. It came in all different materials, with lots of different embellishments. It wasn’t just for use; it was for show. And people went crazy for it, and it created this whole world you see now—bags on the runway, all the brands seeing our success with the Baguette and trying to have an It bag of their own. And some were beautiful and some were horrible, but basically there were bags, bags, bags everywhere. So I wanted to make something—well, I guess we can say now, because it’s been 10 years—something timeless. That wasn’t so fashion. I wanted to get back to the roots of leather goods, and this idea of a bag that a woman uses every day, for a long time. That she passes down to her daughter.
DDF: Like jewelry.
SVF: So it was important to me that the specialness of the bag wasn’t as much on the outside, but on the inside—the pockets, the way it opens up, and there’s a contrast in color, in material. It’s for the woman who owns the bag, who has this relationship with it.
I was thinking about that idea of women having a relationship with her most beloved bag, because one of the adaptations you’ve made to the Peekaboo, Delfina, is this bracelet that works kind of like a handcuff.
DDF: Well, obviously, I’m a jeweler, and so right away I was thinking about how I could bring jewelry elements to this. And I liked the idea of . . . the chain handle is so classic, but you could do something—can I say this?—a little sado with that chain. But I was also thinking about—you know those diplomat bags that lock onto people because there’s something very valuable inside, [so] it can’t get lost? Don’t women feel that way about what they carry with them in their handbags?
Speaking of sadomasochism, you also added the touch of piercings.
DDF: On one side. So there’s the punk side of the bag, and the plain, classic side. A woman can choose how she expresses herself.
LHD: My sense is that women want that from their bags now—they want the bag they can make their own in some way, not the same thing everyone else is wearing. Like the woman who comes to The Webster and shops for Delfina’s jewelry; she likes it because she gets the intellect, the irony. It’s for her—it doesn’t have to be for everyone. And it’s not for an audience.
Is there still an It-bag customer out there in the world?
SVF: No, I don’t think so. Not the same way.
Really? There aren’t, I don’t know, pockets of shoppers in China, say, who missed out on the first It-bag era and want that one must-have bag now?
SVF: No. Wherever you go, all over the world, shoppers are looking at the same thing—the Internet—and they all have the same feeling, that they want “their” thing, not “the” thing. They’re very smart. That’s my experience.
Do you think there could be another It-bag moment—like, maybe in another 10 years?
SVF: Oof, it’s impossible to think of fashion anything in 10 years. This business now, with all of the capsule collections—sometimes it’s hard to guess what will happen in two weeks. And if you’d asked me when we launched the Baguette whether it would become what it became, I wouldn’t have known.
LHD: What I see is, women will be playful with their evening bags. Maybe there could be a fashion moment for something like that, but for the handbag she’s going to carry around all the time, she’s interested in function.
DDF: Oh, yes—like, you see, bags are getting lighter. And you don’t want to hold them. You have to be able to use your hands.
SVF: The bags can be smaller, too. This was one change we made with the Peekaboo—the original, it came in only one size. But now, like, we were talking about China—so many people there, they hardly use money anymore; they pay for everything with the phone. So who needs a wallet? And because we’re always on our phones, yes, we need our hands free. If you want to guess where design is going, look at technology.
