Fendi Baguette

A bag to tuck under your arm

In the mid-1990s the bag of the moment was the minimalist nylon backpack. Silvia Venturini Fendi, then Fendi's creative director of accessories and menswear, was asked to design a similarly practical tote. She did the opposite. 'It came at the right moment, when everyone was wearing a minimal backpack,' she later said. 'I wanted something that would break the rules.'

What she made was small and flat, on a short strap, meant to be tucked under the arm and leave the hands free, the way people carry a French loaf. Hence the name. It debuted in 1997 in black and brown with gold and red straps, and its original model number was 26424.

The idea was a fixed shape that could take endless surfaces: colors, textures and decoration changed while the silhouette stayed the same. Fendi itself says the Baguette 'rebelled against the aesthetic of the time,' breaking with clean, single-color minimalism through bold color, craft techniques and experimental materials.

The family designer

Fendi began in 1925 as a fur and leather shop in Rome, opened by Adele and Edoardo Fendi. Their five daughters joined in 1946, each owning 20 percent, and Karl Lagerfeld arrived in 1965. Silvia Venturini Fendi, born in 1960, is the daughter of one of those sisters, Anna. She designed the Fendissime youth line from 1987 to 1992, became Lagerfeld's second-in-command in 1992 and took over menswear and accessories in 1994.

She described the Baguette as having 'its own personality and its own identity,' and compared the urge to collect it to sweets: 'you want a chocolate one, and then a cream one, then a strawberry one!' She went on to create the Peekaboo, a 2009 hit, led the house after Kim Jones left in 2024, and became Fendi's honorary president in September 2025.

Sex and the City and the birth of the It bag

The Baguette was not an instant hit. In December 1997 Fendi held a sample sale where fashion insiders could buy Baguettes for as little as $50, and soon powerful editors were carrying them. Ordinary buyers needed another push.

It came from television. Sex and the City premiered on HBO on June 6, 1998, and its costume designer, Patricia Field, struggled at first to get brands to lend clothes. Fendi was the first luxury house to lend her a piece. In season 3, episode 17, a mugger in SoHo demands Carrie Bradshaw's bag. 'It's a Baguette,' she corrects him. Sarah Jessica Parker later said that having Carrie wear the Baguette 'was a defining moment for us.'

The Baguette is often cited as the first 'It bag,' a term coined in the 1990s for a single, instantly recognizable designer bag that became the must-have of a season. Fendi fed the craze by turning out the shape in hundreds of designs. In 1999 Prada and LVMH together bought 51 percent of the family company for $545 million, outbidding Gucci; one account credits the Baguette's success for the deal.

Fall, return and the auction record

By the early 2010s the Baguette had faded as large boho totes took over, though Fendi marked its 15th birthday in 2012, and its more than 1,000 original versions, with an exhibition at a Paris concept store. Around 2019 Fendi relaunched it, again designed by Venturini Fendi, with a men's version and, with perfumer Francis Kurkdjian, a scent infused into the leather that lasts three years. During the 2020 lockdown a new generation binged Sex and the City and found the bag again.

For the 25th anniversary in September 2022, Kim Jones, then Fendi's womenswear artistic director, staged a show during New York Fashion Week and invited Marc Jacobs to present his own Baguette-themed collection on the same runway. Special Baguettes came from Tiffany & Co., including a sterling silver edition, and Sarah Jessica Parker contributed a design. Jones called the bag 'one of the pillars of the house.'

Vintage Baguettes now sell at auction. On June 11, 2026, an online sale in New York closed with Elizabeth Taylor's red, white and black embellished canvas floral-print Baguette, circa 2000s, selling for $21,590, more than seven times its $3,000 low estimate and a world record for a Baguette at auction.

In February 2026 Maria Grazia Chiuri, Fendi's new chief creative officer, who had worked in Fendi's accessories department when the first Baguettes were made, showed her own versions in sequins, mirrored embroidery and calf hair. For Fall/Winter 2026-27 the house reissued the classic as the Baguette 26424, after the original's model number.

The calf-hair Baguette: what to look for

This entry is the classic Baguette with a body of calf hair, which Fendi calls cavallino, in black. Calf hair is one of the textures that set the Baguette apart from flat leather bags, and Chiuri chose it for her 2026 debut.

Fendi's current classic 26424 in calf hair shows the standard build: a front flap with a magnetic clasp, the double-F buckle (palladium-finish on that version), a leather-lined interior with an inner zippered pocket, and an adjustable, detachable handle and shoulder strap with a 46 cm drop. Fendi lists it at 26 x 14 x 4 cm and 0.41 kg, with a composition of 100% calf hair and 100% calf leather and a silk interior. One pre-owned black calf-hair example was measured at 10.25 inches long and 5.75 inches high.

Fendi also makes a softer, smaller Baguette Soft Small in black calf hair, with a magnetic button under the flap, a drawstring closure and palladium-finish metalware, at 20 x 16 x 7 cm. In October 2026 Fendi's U.S. site listed it at $3,250, and the tiger-print calf-hair 26424 at $3,700. No production figures for any single Baguette version have been published.

The numbers

Dimensions (classic 26424)

26 cm wide x 14 cm high x 4 cm deep

Weight (classic 26424)

0.41 kg

Material

Calf hair (cavallino) body with calf leather trim

Closure

Front flap with magnetic clasp under the FF buckle

Strap

Adjustable, detachable handle and shoulder strap; 46 cm drop

Original model number

26424

Production quantity

Not published per version; more than a million Baguettes sold in 20 years, per one source

Timeline

1. 1925

   Adele and Edoardo Fendi open their fur and leather shop in Rome.

2. 1994

   Silvia Venturini Fendi becomes creative director of menswear and accessories.

3. 1997

   The Baguette, model 26424, debuts in black and brown with gold and red straps.

4. Dec 1997

   A Fendi sample sale offers Baguettes to insiders for as little as $50.

5. Jun 6, 1998

   Sex and the City premieres on HBO; Fendi becomes the first luxury house to lend to the show.

6. 1999

   Prada and LVMH buy 51 percent of Fendi for $545 million.

7. 2012

   Fendi marks the Baguette's 15th birthday and 1,000-plus versions with a Paris exhibition.

8. 2015

   Rihanna and Sarah Jessica Parker design Baguettes for a charity auction.

9. 2019

   Fendi relaunches the Baguette, adds a men's version and a scent-infused edition.

10. Sep 2022

    A 25th-anniversary show in New York features Kim Jones, Marc Jacobs and Tiffany & Co. editions.

11. Feb 2026

    Maria Grazia Chiuri shows new Baguettes in her Fendi debut, including calf hair.

12. Jun 11, 2026

    Elizabeth Taylor's Baguette sells for $21,590, the auction record for the model.

13. 2026

    Fendi reissues the classic as the Baguette 26424 for Fall/Winter 2026-27.

The world in 1989

• 1989

  Fendi opens its first U.S. boutique, on Fifth Avenue in New York.

• Jun 6, 1998

  Sex and the City premieres; it runs 94 episodes until February 22, 2004.

• 1999

  Fendi's family control ends with the Prada-LVMH purchase.

• 2001

  Fendi joins LVMH's fashion and leather goods division; the Fendissime line closes.

• May 30, 2008

  The Sex and the City film opens in the U.S.

• Feb 19, 2019

  Karl Lagerfeld, at Fendi since 1965, dies.

• Sep 2021

  Fendi and Versace swap designers for the 'Fendace' collaboration.

• Dec 9, 2021

  The sequel series And Just Like That... premieres.

Price record

This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.

By reference price, Fendi Baguette is number 54 of 100 in the handbags entries of the FLOAT 100. 19 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (68 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Fendi's first Baguettes were offered to insiders for as little as $50 at a December 1997 sample sale.
• The bag is named for the way Parisians carry bread: tucked under the arm.
• Its original model number, 26424, is now the name of Fendi's 2026 re-edition.
• Fendi has made more than 1,000 unique versions of the Baguette.
• A 2019 Baguette had a fragrance by Francis Kurkdjian infused into the leather, meant to last three years.
• Maria Grazia Chiuri, who became Fendi's chief creative officer in 2025, worked in its accessories department when the first Baguettes were made.
• Elizabeth Taylor's Baguette sold in 2026 for more than seven times its low estimate.