By: Evevon
To celebrate their 10th anniversary, FENDI selectively invited celebrities and artists around the world to design their own Baguettes on a limited edition canvas edition. The Baguette, so named for its shape which resembles the French baguette, was designed by Silvia Venturini Fendi and has been a favourite with many a bag lover. The bag was made even more famous when Carrie Bradshaw announced “I am homeless! I’ll be a bag lady. A Fendi bag lady, but a bag lady!”
In paying tribute to this iconic bag, ten prominent Asian artists were invited to design a one-of-a-kind FENDI Baguette which delivered some very interesting end results. The invitees were Camelia and Marini Ramlan (Malaysian celebrity and TV producer/ artist respectively), Carina Lau (Greater China celebrity), Chen Ke (China artist), Donna Ong (Singaporean installation artist), Fann Wong (Singaporean celbrity), Eason Chan (HK artist), Hathairat Charoenchaichana (Thai bass guitarists/ illustrator), Raman Hui (HK animator) and Wing Shya (HK photographer). These unique designs were featured in the FENDI 10+ Exhibition at the FENDI boutique in Starhill Gallery recently.
Some of our favourites of the lot…
Wing Shya’s “A Woman’s Secret”
He originally used inkjet to perform the photo transfer on the bag but decided to wash it all off. This created a special effect on the bag exterior and the namesake secret? He placed them inside the bag.
Hathairat Charoenchaichana’s “The Emotion”
Inspired by the relationship between the innocence and the darkness, between the sensuous and the strange we see two females on the surface of the Baguette looking content amidst the bloom of spring flowers but underneath the flap we see their faces stained with tears and leafless trees set behind.
Camelia’s “BAG TO BASIC – The Evolution of Fashion and Music”
Camelia’s design merges music and fashion and defines her individuality which she lists as retro, hip, cool, edgy, raw and funky all together. Fashion to her is a basic necessity in life and music is everyone’s heartbeat where “Inspiration is a fantasy… Creation is the reality”.
Fann Wong’s “I’m Green, Save Me”
Embellished with paper-art flowers, the bag was kept white as a symbol of the flower garden of life. Fann believes that we have the power to paint our lives with the colours we choose to express ourselves with. As she is passionate about the conservation of the environment, she left a touch of symbolic environmental green as seen through the FENDI bearbrick.
Marini Ramlan’s “Fulidity and Movement”
Marini worked with two simple things she always looks to for ideas and inspiration – peacock feathers and butterfly wings. Her vision was to achieve a 360º experience for the Baguette where fluidity and movement are key themes. Paying homage to a butterfly’s metamorphism, the transformation of design from outer bag to inner bag was intentional where the previously sparse peacock feathers and bouquets dominate the inner flap of the bag.
