Fendi Honours Interpretations of the Iconic Baguette Bag in a New Exhibition
The ‘Hand in Hand’ initiative will feature 20 renditions of the House’s signature bag by craftspeople across Italy, showcased publicly at the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, Rome from now till 28 November.
If you’re looking for a reason to travel with the newly implemented Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) this November, this may just be it. For one month only, Italian luxury fashion house Fendi will be hosting an exclusive exhibition highlighting Artistic Director of Accessories and Menswear – Silvia Venturini Fendi’s famous Baguette handbag in a way you’ve never seen before.
Fendi has partnered with 20 craftsmen across Italy to showcase their time-honoured art via the Baguette, creating reinterpreted pieces of the timeless bag for public viewing at the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, Rome.
This esteemed and famous creation will serve as a blank canvas for ateliers and workshops to transcend the work of Fendi in a manner most unique to their own personalities – through ancient handicrafts, techniques, and styles – with each bag adorned with the creator’s name and location along with the House’s ‘Hand in Hand’ logo.
“I am developing a special project with Italian artisans, each one selected from a different Italian region,” says Silvia Venturini Fendi. “The first example is the leather Baguette bag that was presented on the Fall/Winter 2020-2021 catwalk. It is made in Tuscany by a man who normally makes small leather goods all by hand in small quantities. He makes everything by himself. It’s made of vegetal leather, very natural, and there is no stitching, it’s just bonded. My aim now is to explore every Italian region and select the best artisans still working today - and then expand the project worldwide.”
On top of the many new designs of the bag, the collaboration also brought together master artisans from diverse regions – Abruzzo, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Emilia-Romagna, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Lazio, Liguria, Lombardia, Marche, Molise, Piemonte, Puglia, Sardegna, Sicilia, Toscana, Trentino-Alto Adige, Umbria, Valle d’Aosta, and Veneto – to foster stronger ties within the community and exchange rare techniques to preserve the art of ancient Italian craftsmanship across the country.
And rare, indeed. Each craftsman honed specialised skills for their own bags. One look at each bag on display will show you the difference in techniques per region – cotton embroidery for Sardegna, mosaic shapes and colours for Romagna, silver embellishments for Liguria, and more.
The first 20 ‘Hand in Hand’ Baguette bags will be displayed across the ground floor of the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, accompanied by a display of digital and physical works depicting the creative process of the initiative.
The exhibition will run from 30 October to 28 November and will be open to the public. For regulations and reservations, visit fendi.com.
