Fendi Handbags and Purses (Page 5)

I’ve got a confession to make before we talk about this bag: My favorite bag from my personal collection is a purple hobo. Mine’s Balenciaga instead of Fendi, but it’s safe to assume that I have a bit of bias when it comes to bags that look like the Fendi Mia Chain Strap Hobo. I’ve found my purple hobo to be so useful and easy to wear that imagining how many different outfits this bag could go with isn’t particularly hard.

More than anything, however, I look at this bag as even further evidence that Fendi has finally hit their stride, after a few years of searching for the right tone. The materials are nice, the logo is there but it’s not the basis for the entire bag, and it looks like something a lot of different women would be proud to carry. Have we entered something of a Fendi renaissance?

I’ve never been one for embroidery in any form or context – it almost always manages to look too cheap or too twee or too bohemian for me, and the fact that it almost always features floral motifs doesn’t help. I’m also historically not much of a fan of Fendi, despite the fact that I’ve championed several of their bags recently. Conflating the two, it would seem, would almost certainly produce a bag that I’d despise.

Except Fendi managed to make a bag featuring floral embroidery that I love – the Fendi Floral Baguette. It’s overpriced, made of straw, and half-covered in cutesy little flowers. It’s so not me. Perhaps that’s why I like it – everyone needs a total departure from time to time.

If the brands that I normally make fun of continue to turn out impressive bag collections, what am I going to crack jokes about? With the second lovely presentation by Fendi in as many seasons, it looks like before I know it, the only time I’m going to get to be nasty and snarky is when Versace puts forth a new abomination against handbag design. That’s bad for me as a writer (bad reviews write themselves), but it’s a net gain for handbag lovers everywhere.

Although we saw a logo bag or two in the Fendi Fall/Winter 2010 collection, the vast majority of the collection was comprised of clean, classic shapes, rendered in a subdued, retro palette of browns and orangey-yellows. The styling reminded me of Hitchcock classic Marnie, all mid-60s subdued tailoring and midcentury color combinations. The results were subdued and pretty, with impressive details that weren’t to be missed. My favorite among them was that the brand had embossed the models’ initials on the hang tags of several of the brown leather bags – I wonder if that’s a service that Fendi will provide to customers when these bags are sold at retail.

I’m so utterly pleased to see the bags from the Fendi Spring 2010 catwalk starting to land in stores. This bag collection is my favorite from Fendi in…well, almost forever. It had a bohemian grace and ease to it that is difficult to capture, and they did a fine job.

The Fendi Wood-Frame Leather Clutch is a great example of the slightly boho vibe that the collection had, and unlike the emerging clog trend (no no no, I cannot live in a world where clogs are ok), the wooden touches on this leather handbag are totally acceptable. They might even be pretty.

Megs wrote about this bag a bit ago, but I couldn’t help but cover it as well. So, earlier today I wrote about the Yves Saint Laurent Yes Large Leather Tote. While writing about this tote, I expressed my concern for its price. Well, the same concern has popped up with this Fendi bag.

Ok, first and foremost, I like seeing a Fendi bag that hasn’t been covered with its logo. I’m over logos. So realizing the bag up for discussion is a Fenid AND you can’t really tell unless you look around the handles makes the bag discussion worthy – at least in my book. This is hands down a really cute shopper but my jaw dropped when I saw the price tag attached. How much would you think this bag was going to cost you?

For a while I was vehemently opposed to tiny bags with long straps. Let me clarify, I am opposed to them for me. Being 5’10 and not a waif, the thought of an extremely small bag dangling at my side seemed absurd (similar to how many petite women find oversized bags silly on their bodies). So riddle me this, today I am digging an entirely small bodied bag WITH logos and a rainbow tassel. Who am I and what have I done with my other self?

Let’s get straight to the point: the Fendi Leather Front Zip Hobo is a classic, understated bag that also manages to subtly touch on current trends without actually being trendy. Further proof that I may have been right back in December when I postulated that the brand may be on a bit of a handbag upswing. And there’s nothing that I love more than possible proof that I was right about something.