Now, your very own \'it\' bag

Tag : Handmade Buttons

Believe it or not, one's personality shows through in one's bag.So, as DAZMAN MANAN writes, that's every reason to personalise yourbag, as two local personalities did with their Fendi baguettes.
SOME say the "it" bag is dead. It's not hot to carry something coolanymore. The haute handbag has lost its high life in fashion'sfuriously fast lane.

But wait, the people at Fendi feel there's still a way to bringback the "it" bag. How to make a carrier coveted when almosteveryone's able to get her hands on it? Well, why not personaliseyour purse and make it your own. Stand out in your own signaturesatchel.

Which was what singer Camelia and TV producer-cum-artist MariniRamlan did. In conjunction with the 10th anniversary of Fendi'siconic baguette bag, the Italian label recently invited celebritiesand artists around the world to design their own baguettes on alimited anniversary canvas edition.

Offering a splash of their creative flair for Fendi, Camelia'sbaguette is painted on to resemble a cassette tape while Marini'sfeatures a vibrant display of colours with a peacock's featherpattern.
"The whole idea of my bag is to showcase the fusion between fashionand music. They go together very well. Where there's music, thereis fashion," says the ever-stylish Camelia at the launch of her ownbaguette at Fendi in Starhill Gallery, Kuala Lumpur.

A bag, she adds, speaks volumes of our personal approach tofashion, providing clues to our outlook, career and aspirations.So, as in music, which is an inseparable element with fashion, itis forever timeless.

"My baguette design is a compact icon of style and status. Itdefines my individuality, which is retro, hip, cool, edgy, raw andfunky altogether. To me fashion is a basic necessity in life andmusic is everyone's heartbeat."

For her baguette creation, Marini worked with two simple thingsthat she always looks to for ideas and inspiration  peacockfeathers and the wings of a butterfly.

"My vision was to achieve a 360-degree experience for the baguettewhere fluidity and movement are key themes. Open the baguette andbe surprised with a different personality  where the previouslysparse peacock feathers dominate and bouquets appear across theinner flap of the bag," Marini explains of her eye-catchingartwork.

The transformation of design from outer bag to inner bag wasintentional, she notes, and quite apt as if to pay homage to abutterfly's metamorphism.

Other personalities who made their own baguettes were Hong Kongactress Carina Lau, Singaporean songbird and actress Fann Wong,bass guitarist-cum-illustrator Hathairat Charoenchaichana fromThailand and installation artist Donna Ong from Singapore.

Ong's bag is interesting and unique as her bag loses its mundaneutilitarian functionality and becomes child's play.

Her white bag is transformed into a spider's web of sorts where itis covered with the eight-legged creature  made from buttons andwire  all over.

Wong's baguette is embellished with white paper-art flowers. Thedelicately designed and cut white paper flowers add a touch ofOriental art to the piece.

Most poetic would have to be Charoenchaichana's. The surface of thebaguette portrays to women. Set amidst the bloom of spring flowers,they seem content. However, when the flap of the bag is opened, acontradiction is revealed.

Darker emotions spread across their faces with tears and leaflesstrees set behind.

Apparently, the artist was inspired by the relationship betweeninnocence and darkness, between the sensuous and the strange, allthrough the projection of character and its alter ego.

The "Artist Baguette", which is available at select Fendi stores,comes in a box complete with a white canvas baguette and 10coloured markers.

The price? About US$1,300(RM4,160) for your own handmade baguette.