Resort 2023 is an eight-hands designer collection by Silvia Venturini Fendi, Kim Jones, Delfina Delettrez, Marc Jacobs; with the collaboration of Tiffany&Co.
Celebrating Fendi Baguette – an icon
After taking over the streets of Times Square in 2021 with a Fendi Roma billboard light show. Fendi returned to the Big Apple one year later with its Resort 2023 collection.
Designed by the hands of four, Silvia Venturini Fendi, Kim Jones, Delfina Delettrez and a cameo by Marc Jacobs. The collection is a tribute to the Italian label’s Baguette bag, an iconic item «that does what fashion should do: bring pleasure to people» said Venturini Fendi. The bag silhouette has been around since 1997 and exploded in popularity in the 2000s when Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie Bradshaw carried said purse on Sex and the City.
According to Jones himself, the collection was never supposed to be a traditional homage for the anniversary of the bag. It is instead a celebration of a moment in time, when the Baguette became famous and brought a sense of freedom in excess and fun in fashion. It was Jones that tapped designer Marc Jacobs as a collaborator, with whom has a shared history. Jacobs was in fact the Creative Director at Louis Vuitton from 1997 to 2014 and it was there that he hired Jones to run its menswear division from 2011 to 2018.
Fendi’s appreciation for NYC street style
Fendi’s first time at New York Fashion Week was the rightful occasion to take a different approach.
Utility—as a theme—was the design focus of the collection and included leather windbreakers with color-blocked front chest plackets; puffer sleeves; bomber jackets with double-zip closure; tonal cargo pants and car coats with exterior zip detailing.
To accessorise Fendi Roma logo shirts, military boots and tracksuits, were the olive backpacks, the sequin beanies, cellophane opera capes and cropped corset tops; neutrals were played up with contrasting fluo details.
Overcoats and puff jackets were also enriched by multi-pockets of all kinds. A reinterpretation of the Fendi emblem and the bag’s signature buckle.
Marc Jacobs designed a series of looks that made up the second part of the show, for which each model wore a massive. Fluffy hat reminiscent of the ones Stephen Jones made for Jacobs’ for Fall 2012, and towering platform boots.
Fendi Baguette reinterpreted
Every kind of Baguette imaginable was present. On double purses, clipped onto mini-skirts, worn on the wrists, on hats, and socks.
There were Baguettes upon Baguettes, with miniature sized Baguette pouches attached to major Baguette purses. Again, baguette fanny packs, clutches, bracelets, baguettes hung as charms on necklaces, keychains and belts. The bag was indeed the main protagonist.
The silhouette inspired the shape of pockets on fleece jackets and they were present even in the wintery accessories, like baseball caps, and gloves.
A newer version of the bag was introduced in its oversized version created by Jacobs. He incorporated a graffiti-style font placement of The Baguette Bag in block-letter font style that similarly appears on his eponymous The Tote Bag.
For the final triumphant ode, actress Sarah Jessica Parker – alongside Venturini Fendi – brought out new iterations of the Baguette. A special edition in degradé sequins displayed in a colourful palette: from the purple, to wasabi green, baby pink, and soft blue. The bag remains a statement in the Fendi outfits, now wearable as a cross-body that comes with four interchangeable straps. To be inscribed inside the capsule bags is Carrie’s historic line from the HBO series. «It’s not a bag, it’s a Baguette».
The Fendi Baguette – a collaboration with Tiffany & Co.
Elsewhere in the collection, a recognizable shade of light blue takes its own space.
Another iconic New York brand, Tiffany & Co. joined in and collaborated with Fendi on Tiffany-blue versions of the Baguette. The Tiffany ‘T’ logo combined with Fendi’s inverted ‘F’s appeared as graphicized hardware elements on Tiffany Blue-colored Baguettes, outerwear pieces and baseball caps.
This work reflected Jones’ partnership with Tiffany & Co., claiming a synergy with the Tiffany flagship, the blue and the yellow that come together. It is a unique crossover between the two LVMH brands. Brought in to provide a series of menswear jackets, sunglasses, hats, diamond Baguette bags injected with Tiffany blue hue.
Other purses were embellished with Tiffany diamonds. The crown jewel was a bag made entirely of sterling silver, crafted by hand over four months, engraved with lilies and roses, as others were pavéd in the precious stones.
It was Bella Hadid that made her entrance wearing a satin Tiffany blue one-piece tracksuit accessorized in monochrome.
Bring back the Nineties’ feeling
What Jones was after was simply a feeling. «I was thinking about when I was first coming to New York and we would go out clubbing».
For this special occasion, Hammerstein Ballroom was transformed with soft beige carpet and curtains, lightened by just a hint of light. A VIP parterre was attending the show. In the front row, Sarah Jessica Parker—godmother of the bag—. Kim Kardashian, Anna Wintour, Naomi Watts, Fendi brand ambassadors for Korea Song Hye-kyo and Lee Min-ho and Winnie Harlow held down one end of the bench; and Kate Moss, Shalom Harlow, and Amber Valletta the other.
An unpredictable Grace Jones was sitting in the second row.
New York has served as the perfect location for the unveiling of this secret tribute show that also marked the return of Linda Evangelista to the runaway. This occurred after just one year since opening up about her cool sculpting procedure gone wrong. Which she talked candidly about, receiving full support from the fashion community.
The supermodel, who is currently the face of Fendi, wore a voluminous blue Tiffany gown with a sterling silver Baguette bag in the crook of her arm; as she joined the center of the catwalk with the designers to receive the standing ovation.
Resort 2023 – Fendi Baguette 25th
The Fendi collection is designed to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the Baguette bag during New York Fashion Week.
