An accessory icon was born when Sarah Jessica Parker, then playing a young Carrie Bradshaw, muttered the words “It’s not a bag, it’s a baguette” during a 2000 episode of Sex and the City. It’s only fitting that for Fendi’s 100th-anniversary show at Milan Fashion Week tonight, Parker would base her entire outfit around a sparkly baguette. Hopefully, this one doesn’t wind up in the hands of a thief like Carrie’s did in season three of SATC.
Parker, wearing an emerald green knit dress, let her accessory choice shine as she took her place on the front row. The actor picked out a structured and sequined rose gold baguette that she wore with a crossbody strap. Of course, the baguette was the go-to handbag choice for guests at the anniversary show. Joining Parker were Elizabeth Olsen, Naomi Ackie, and Ashley Park.
Created by Silvia Venturini Fendi in 1997, the baguette quickly caught the eye of SATC stylist Patricia Field who made the accessory a hallmark of Carrie’s style (along with her Manolo Blahnik shoes). The baguette instantly shot to It status and still pops up on the SATC reboot And Just Like That… every now and then. Vintage versions of the bag are beloved by everyone from Bella Hadid to Rihanna, and even Parker herself has pulled out the baguette for red carpet appearances in the past.
In 2022, Fendi’s then-creative director Kim Jones tapped Marc Jacobs, Tiffany & Co., and Parker to create special-edition baguettes in honor of the accessory’s 25th anniversary. The purple sequined baguette Parker designed debuted during the spring 2023 Fendi show (where she was also sat front row, baguette in hand). A few years prior in 2019, Parker starred in a Fendi commercial when the Italian brand relaunched the baguette that same year. “Oh, this isn’t a bag,” Carrie says with a laugh during the video when a woman compliments her bag. “It’s a baguette.”
