The ‘It' Bag Is OVER

Long live the ‘It’ bag. The woman who invented the concept reissues a classic with no sell-by date.

- Erik Maza

On the chilly New York morning when I meet Silvia Venturini Fendi, a front-page story in Women’s Wear Daily blares: “End of the ‘It’ Bag Era.”

In an industry where accessories rule, this bit of news might unnerve a designer, but Fendi is unflappable. The creative director and caretaker of a 94-year-old dynasty, “a family of women, crazy about fashion,” she is not easily perturbed. Behind her table at the Greenwich Hotel in Tribeca, she might even be grinning. The woman who did for handbags what Michelangelo did for marble when she created the Baguette in 1997 finds herself agreeing with the paper’s declaration. An “It” bag, you see, has a sell-by date, just one season to preen in the spotlight.

“ ‘It’ bags are over,” she says. “The Baguette is timeless. I don’t like when things are too in fashion.”