Fendi introduced the iconic Baguette handbag in 1997.
The bag was designed by Silvia Venturini Fendi, who joined the family fashion house in the 1990s and became its influential accessories designer. Its compact, rectangular shape was intended to be carried under the arm like a French baguette, giving the design both its name and its distinctive attitude.
The Baguette stood apart from the large totes that dominated the period. Fendi produced it in many colors, materials, patterns, and embellishments, allowing customers to collect different versions while preserving the recognizable silhouette. That strategy helped make it one of fashion’s earliest “It bags.”
Its cultural breakthrough came through Sex and the City, where Carrie Bradshaw famously treated the bag as more than an interchangeable accessory. The television exposure helped propel Fendi’s design into pop-culture history. It is sometimes confused with Fendi’s later Peekaboo, but the Peekaboo was introduced in 2009, well after the Baguette.