FLOAT 100 · Handbags · No. 69
Fendi First Medium
For his first womenswear show at Fendi, Kim Jones took the house's initial, tipped it on its side and turned it into the frame of a bag, and named the result for the occasion: the First.
- Year
- current
- Maker
- Fendi
- By price in handbags
- 89 of 100
Create a free account to see every recorded price and every grade.
Create a free account- Maker
- Fendi, Rome; made in Italy
- Introduced
- Fall/Winter 2021 ready-to-wear show, February 2021
- Designer
- Kim Jones, with Silvia Venturini Fendi; accounts credit each
- This entry
- First Medium in shiny black nappa leather (style 8BP127)
- Signature
- An oversized metal F that serves as the clasp and frame
- Medium size
- 12.8 in wide x 9.25 in high x 5.91 in deep; 10.63 in strap drop, per one guide
- Carry
- Clutch, shoulder or cross-body, via a detachable strap
- Sizes
- Small and Medium, plus a Nano charm
- In stores
- Summer 2021
A letter turned into a bag
Kim Jones wanted an accessory that would stand both for Fendi and for his own debut collection. He took an idea to Silvia Venturini Fendi, the third-generation family member who runs the house's accessories: reclaim the 'F,' which inside Fendi stands for family, fun, functionality, fur and form, and make it into a bag. Jones tilted the letter, turned it into a frame and gave the body a puffy, coin-purse shape, producing an asymmetrical bag that can be carried as a clutch or worn on the shoulder or across the body.
The bag followed the soft pouch trend of the time, with bodies made of materials from fur and leather to exotic skins. Sources differ on credit: a resale guide and a fashion news site say Jones introduced the First, while an encyclopedia entry lists the First among bags designed by Venturini Fendi. The two worked together on it.
The First made its debut at Jones's first ready-to-wear show for Fendi, the Fall/Winter 2021 collection, presented in February 2021. Fendi put the bags and matching F-heeled mules in its stores that summer, in soft nappa to shearling, in medium and small sizes.
Kim Jones at Fendi
Kim Jones, born in London in 1973, studied menswear at Central Saint Martins and graduated in 2002. He ran men's ready-to-wear at Louis Vuitton from 2011 to 2018, then became artistic director of Dior Homme in March 2018. In September 2020 Fendi named him artistic director of its womenswear as well, the women's collection Karl Lagerfeld had overseen during a little more than 50 years with the house until his death in February 2019. Silvia Venturini Fendi had filled it in the interim.
His Fendi debut was a couture collection in January 2021 that paid tribute to the Bloomsbury Set. Weeks later his first ready-to-wear show looked to the five Fendi sisters, Paola, Anna, Franca, Carla and Alda, and their intellectual way of dressing, in a palette of browns, creams, grays, olives and blacks. 'Fun isn't always just about bright colors,' he wrote in the show notes.
Jones left Fendi in October 2024, and stepped down at Dior in January 2025.
The collaborative years
Jones's tenure was a time of crossovers. Under him Fendi worked with Kim Kardashian's shapewear brand Skims in 2021, with Versace in 2022 and with Stefano Pilati in 2023. The Fendi-Versace swap, presented in September 2021 and nicknamed 'Fendace,' became a symbol of how far fashion had moved from the 1990s, when inviting another designer onto a house runway was unthinkable.
Jones carried the idea further in September 2022, when he staged a show in New York for the Baguette's 25th anniversary and invited Marc Jacobs, who had once hired him to design menswear at Louis Vuitton, to present his own collection on the same runway. Jones called the Baguette 'one of the pillars of the house'; the First was his attempt to add a new one.
How to identify a First Medium
The First is all about the F. The oversized metal letter forms an asymmetrical frame across the top of a soft, gathered body; on the Small, Fendi describes the metal as bound in tone-on-tone leather. Fendi describes the Small in nappa (lambskin) with an interior compartment lined in fabric printed with the FF motif, removable inner hooks, gold-finish metalware and a detachable shoulder strap.
Fendi lists the Small at 26 cm wide, 18 cm high and 9.5 cm deep, weighing 0.6 kg, with a 44 cm strap drop. For the Medium, one resale guide gives 12.8 inches wide, 9.25 inches high and 5.91 inches deep with a 10.63-inch drop; a pre-owned black Medium was measured at about 12 x 8 x 6 inches with an 11-inch removable strap. The Medium's style number is 8BP127.
This entry is the Medium in black shiny nappa. Firsts have also been made in materials from shearling and fur to exotic skins, and Fendi has offered a small First embroidered with more than 7,200 silver bugle beads in a herringbone pattern. When the line reached stores in 2021, prices in Hong Kong ranged from HK$20,500 to HK$39,000 depending on size and material. No production figures have been published.
A modern Fendi signature
Fendi's best-known bags each have a single idea: the Baguette is carried under the arm, the Peekaboo is carried open. The First's idea is the logo itself, turned into structure. It has been carried by Chiara Ferragni, Priyanka Chopra, Jennifer Lopez, Lily Allen, Lauren Hutton, Christina Ricci and Chloe Sevigny.
With Jones gone and Maria Grazia Chiuri named chief creative officer in 2025, the First now stands as the defining bag of a short, distinct era at the house.
The numbers
- Dimensions (Medium)
- 12.8 x 9.25 x 5.91 in, 10.63 in drop (resale guide); about 12 x 8 x 6 in measured on one pre-owned example
- Dimensions (Small, per Fendi)
- 26 x 18 x 9.5 cm; 0.6 kg; 44 cm drop
- Material
- Shiny black nappa leather
- Hardware
- Oversized metal F clasp and frame; gold finish
- Interior
- Compartment lined in FF-motif fabric; removable inner hooks (Small, per Fendi)
- Style number
- 8BP127 (Medium)
- Production quantity
- Not published
Timeline
Adele and Edoardo Fendi found the house in Rome.
Karl Lagerfeld creates Fendi's double-F logo.
Lagerfeld dies; Silvia Venturini Fendi becomes interim womenswear creative director.
Kim Jones is named artistic director of Fendi womenswear.
Jones shows his first Fendi couture collection.
The First debuts on the Fall/Winter 2021 ready-to-wear runway.
The First bag and First mules reach Fendi stores.
Fendi and Versace present the 'Fendace' swap.
Jones's departure from Fendi is announced.
Maria Grazia Chiuri becomes Fendi's chief creative officer.
The world in 2018
Jones is named artistic director of Dior Homme.
Karl Lagerfeld, at Fendi since 1965, dies.
Fendi collaborates with Kim Kardashian's Skims.
The Fendi-Versace 'Fendace' collection is shown.
Fendi celebrates the Baguette's 25th anniversary with a show in New York.
Jones steps down at Dior Homme.
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 First Medium is number 89 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 (69 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.
Did you know
- Inside Fendi, the F is said to stand for family, fun, functionality, fur and form.
- Jones came to womenswear from menswear: he was running Dior Homme at the same time.
- Matching 'First' mules have heels shaped like the metal F.
- One small First was embroidered with more than 7,200 silver bugle beads.
- Jones's first Fendi ready-to-wear show was inspired by the five Fendi sisters.
How this page is made
- The figure
- One reference price, shown with its own kind. FLOAT does not average it with anything or adjust it for time.
- Realized or not
- A realized price is a completed sale. An asking price, an estimate and a price-guide value are not sales, and are labeled as such wherever they appear.
- The story
- Researched from published records and checked fact by fact. Updated Oct 3, 2026.
- Archive
- Oct 5, 2026