Silvia Venturini Fendi, who designed the Baguette, in February 2026. Photo US Embassy Italy, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. No freely licensed image of the bag itself turned up; the design is Fendi's.
The Fendi Baguette
What it took directly
- documentedThe Baguette took from the French loaf: not its shape, but the way it is tucked under the arm"The bags are rectangular, and not long, like the bread. But like the French loaf, they were designed to be tucked under the arm." Suzy Menkes, The New York Times / International Herald Tribune (2012)
- documentedSilvia Venturini Fendi's Baguettes took from personal things: daisies sprinkled by her youngest daughter, a mustard-yellow beaded bag, raffia with jet embroidery"shows the personal inspirations of Silvia Venturini Fendi, such as the sprinkling of daisies by her youngest daughter, a mustard yellow beaded bag or raffia with jet embroidery." Suzy Menkes, The New York Times / International Herald Tribune (2012), on the Rizzoli book of the bag
- documentedThe Baguette Abruzzo (2020) took from tombolo aquilano, a lace technique Benedictine nuns practised in the 1400s, worked by Simona Iannini"L’Aquila-based artisan Simona Iannini used a special lace technique called tombolo aquilano, practised in the 1400s by Benedictine nuns, to make hers." Scarlett Conlon, The Observer (2020)
- statedThe 2019 Baguette relaunch took from nostalgia for the original"We like change, but there's also a bit of nostalgia" Silvia Venturini Fendi, quoted by PAPER (2019)
What it learned to do
- documentedSilvia Venturini Fendi learned from Karl Lagerfeld, under whom she ran accessories"After joining the family firm, she became head of accessories under the late Karl Lagerfeld, the much-loved creative director." Scarlett Conlon, The Observer (2020)
- statedSilvia Venturini Fendi learned from her family's way of working together"In Italy, we say that unity is the force of a family, so I have always learned to share." Silvia Venturini Fendi, to Scarlett Conlon, The Observer (2020)
The tradition it sits in
- inferredThe Baguette comes from the late-1990s turn from the plain black bag to embroidery, beads and fur"The basic black leather bag, a staple of most every woman's wardrobe, looks tired by comparison to newer purses in unusual fabrics or embellished with embroidery, beading and fur." inferred — Marie Claire (2012) lists Baguettes in sequins, mink and beads, and the NYT described this turn in 1999 without naming Fendi in the captured text; that the 1997 bag rode it is our reading
- documentedThe Fendi Baguette comes from Silvia Venturini Fendi's design of 1997"Unleashed upon the been-there, carried-that world in 1997, the Fendi Baguette was not only a triumph of Silvia Fendi's imagination" Joyce Corrigan, Marie Claire (2012)
Where the whole form comes from
- documentedThe Baguette comes from the Fendi family house, started by Silvia Venturini Fendi's grandparents Adele and Edoardo in 1925"In 1994, Venturini Fendi joined the family business that her grandparents, Adele and Edoardo, had started in 1925" Scarlett Conlon, The Observer (2020)
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