Even before the ink was dry on the contracts for the “Sex and the City” film, DecadesTwo co-owner Christos Garkinos was already declaring a return of that show’s playful, designer-heavy style. And one feature, in particular, had him on the hunt during his latest buying house calls to client’s bulging closets: The Fendi Baguette.
The accessory that launched the “It” bag phenom when it was introduced in 1997, the Baguette is named after its small and narrow shape and the way it snugly fits under the armpit—not unlike a bar of bread might be carried from the baker. From beaded encrusted to minimal patent and every incarnation imaginable, the Baguette fueled the contemporary collectors craze in accessories.
“I didn’t even want to touch them for a long time,” Garkinos told me during one of our two or three interviews this summer. I had been assigned not one, but two features on him, business partner Cameron Silver and their expanded Melrose consignment store, first for the L.A. Times (that one ran last month), then for an Elle feature running in the Novemeber issue. “But they suddenly look right again” he continued. “The Baguette is having its second coming.”
Between Garkinos’ influential decree and the return to set of Sarah Jessica Parker and posse, Baquette creator Silvia Venturini Fendi evidently got the message. She had them back on the runway today at the Fendi presentation in Milan. With more than 800,000 sold in the last decade and for upwards of 1 to 4 Gs a pop, Ms. Fendi knows all too well on which bag her bread is buttered.
Update: Christos just emailed to say he just relieved a Saudi princess (I kid you not!) of 20 of the most over-the-top Baguettes.
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