Are Fendi Baguette Bags The New Star Signs For It-Girls?
Carrie Bradshaw once told a mugger "it's not a bag, it's a Baguette." Twenty years later, I'd like to update her: it's not a Baguette, it's a personality type.
As style gets increasingly homogenised by internet culture, the want to express yourself through personal style is becoming akin to a need, fuelling the accessories craze that sees grown adults attaching Labubus to their Chanel flap bags to signal something about themselves. Low-level, granular, personality-driven differentiation is the real gold dust right now. And Fendi have nailed it so hard that these 20 Baguette re-editions are about to be the new star signs for it-girls. Maria Grazia Chiuri, who helped create the original Baguette in 1997, itself an act of rebellion against the minimalism of its era, designed this collection for every woman out there. The Baguette has always been a personality bag. This collection just takes that to its logical conclusion.
Each one of the 20 re-editions has the energy of a beautiful interesting stranger on the street, the kind of person whose way of walking is so entirely their own that you know you'll never see anyone quite like them again. Laid out together, the characters come to life clearly and vividly. Four distinct types, with two additional, slightly more complicated women.
The maximalist glitzy bags are for the party girls, but there are two very distinct subsets. The dark glitzy bags are a look-at-me-if-you-can situation, they'll catch your eye and stick in your mind for approximately three minutes. You won't remember much more than a sequinned smile and high cheekbones proudly adorned with sweat. Inside: Vogue cigarettes, a crushed lipstick with the cap off, a deep red ground into the lining, a rogue ID and no wallet, because with a bag like that, she is definitely not paying for her own drinks. Then there are the golden bags, angelic maximalist. This is the difference between the Demna party girl and the YSL party girl. These girls date footballers, take tequila shots, and somehow look composed at 4am and again at 9am for pilates. No one knows how they do it.
The cream and black crochet bags are for the girls in bed by 9pm, thankfully the smut genre is alive and well. The mosaic beaded embroidered bags belong to the girl who pops into the V&A on a whim, her life a beautiful collage. The clean sleek leathers belong to the corporate baddies, always an espresso in hand because iced lattes take too long to kick in.
My personal favourite is the most complicated character, the red beaded bag with the turquoise flap and pink buckle. She sits between the party girls and the artsy girls. She knows her Monet from her Manet and her indica from her sativa. She celebrates her birthday twice: once at a rave at midnight, once at a fusion restaurant where someone's new boyfriend is the chef, followed by a play. The same bag. Equal adoration from both crowds.
Which is exactly the point. Fendi didn't just give us bags, they gave us archetypes, personalities to adorn our arms. I want to see Hinge prompts that read "I'll fall for you if you're a crochet Fendi Baguette girl." Because discovering someone carries the same Baguette shouldn't feel like an awkward coincidence, it should feel like finding out you have the same star sign, the same hometown, the same alma mater. That same small thrill of recognition. As a society we've always needed shorthands for who we are: ENFJ, Capricorn, introvert. Thanks to Maria, we can add Fendi Baguette to that list.
