Is my charity shop bought Fendi bag worth thousands of pounds?

I bought a Fendi designer bag from a second hand shop for £200. 

I thought it was quite expensive but loved it – and had a hunch it might be worth far more.

Also, I decided that even if my hunch was wrong, I’d be left with a bag I absolutely adore. Did I get a bargain or did I overpay? Stacey via email

There are some designer names that just jump out at me, so when I received an email from Stacey, it instantly piqued my interest. 

Fendi is a luxury brand with a bold and unapologetically loud style that I love. 

Founded in 1925 by Adele and Edoardo Fendi, the brand first launched as a fur and leather goods shop in Rome. 

The company was later passed to their daughters, but the brand saw a meteoric rise within the luxury market when they appointed Karl Lagerfeld as their creative director in 1965. 

Originally hired to modernize their fur line, in 1966 he’d designed the company logo that is still used today and launched the Maison’s high fashion collection. 

More than 10 years later he launched their ‘ready to wear’ collection which included handbags, and many would argue that this was one of the moments that revolutionised luxury womenswear.

The 90s is back with a bang and so lots of items are worth big money from that era including designer goods and you’ll be pleased to know that the Baguette bag is currently very sought after and yours screams the 90s to me – I love its combination of neon colours with the fun beaded flowers.

During the 80s and 90s, Fendi expanded further with perfume, eyewear, jeans and even houseware which became as huge as handbags did for the brand, and it was in 1997 when one of their most prestigious bags was launched. 

Granddaughter of the Fendi House founders, Silvia Venturini Fendi created the Baguette bag having been inspired by chic Parisian women who would carry baguettes under their arms. 

Until then, large tote bags were the Plat Du Jour but this small, sleek bag which could be worn in a number of different ways with or without it’s strap changed all that. 

The Baguette bags were deemed ‘affordable luxury’ because you could pick some of them up for a couple of hundred pounds. 

With an enormous array of designs and an appealing price point, Fendi had launched a ‘buy a bag’ habit where customers would purchase multiple bags, not just one. 

This trend leaned into the rise of a fast fashion culture where we threw the entire notion of ‘make do and mend’ out of the door, replacing it with a celebration of consumerism.

To further cement themselves as the creators of the first ‘It Bag’, Fendi had an ingenious idea to lend this bag to a then little-known series called Sex and the City. 

I loved the scene in one of the episodes when the lead character, Carrie, gets mugged. 

Not because I’m a weird sadist who would relish in someone’s misfortune but because of the fact, that even in her hour of need, when the thief demands her bag, she responds ‘it’s a Baguette’. 

This moment solidified how special this bag was that it was called by its name in one of the biggest shows on television – what an endorsement. 

The actor who played Carrie, Sarah Jessica Parker, actually credits the bag for popularising the show and her character. 

I’m not 100 per cent convinced on this and think she might be being overly generous to the brand but then again, perhaps I would be that kind if I had been gifted such an iconic piece of fashion. 

Either way, the Baguette and the show were a huge success and will forever be remembered as cult classics.

Its therefore no surprise that Fendi has sold over 1million Baguette bags, positioning it up there with the likes of the Chanel 2.55 (quilted bag) and the Hermes Berkin – whilst with vastly different price tags, it still has earnt this legendary status.

With such a vast amount of this bag produced as a more affordable price that it’s contemporaries, did Stacey buy well? 

She spent £200 on the bag which could be considered a lot for a second-hand bag which was produced 30 years ago. 

However, as discussed, this is one of the world’s leading designers and a bag that became eye-wateringly famous.

Vintage bags (yes, the 90’s are now classified as vintage, and yes, that makes me feel old as well), can often be worth a fraction of their original cost, some can hold their value and some rare ones can actually rise in value. 

If we were to look at these rare ones in percentages of increase, per year they can rise higher that stocks, shares and even gold.

Also, just a note here to say – there are plenty of bag fakes around, but, I can tell by the quality of the stitchwork that this isn’t one of them.

If fakers wanted to create a Fendi Baguette dupe, they would not choose a model with such intricate beading ad it would cost too much time and money. 

This particular Baguette would be one of the hardest to fake.  

So, do you have a rare bag Stacey worth a small fortune? 

The 90s is back with a bang and many items are worth big money from that era including designer goods. 

You’ll be pleased to know the Baguette bag is currently very sought after and yours screams the 90s to me – I love its combination of neon colours with the fun beaded flowers. 

I can assure you it would do very well if you wanted to sell it. There is some obvious wear and tear, and I can see that some of the beads are missing, so taking that into consideration, I would value your bag at £1,000, which is incredible considering you only paid £200 for it.

However, here is the really interesting bit – you could make even more from the bag if you were willing to spend a little bit of money refurbishing it. 

One of my dearest friends, Charlotte Rogers who owns This Old Thing London, is one of the world’s most respected and trusted vintage and luxury good experts. 

I showed her your Baguette and she waxed lyrical about it, stating what a collectable fashion icon it was. 

She said, if you spent about £200 to refurb it, it could then be sold for £1,700 to £2,000 which would boost your profit from your original outlay, exponentially. 

I’d very much advocate for you to get the refurb so that you can reap the rewards with your Baguette – and dare I say it, make some dough.

Well done on such a wonderful find, you bought well and could make yourself a really impressive profit.

Is mum’s 70s Dior necklace worth a mint? 

Is my mum’s Dior necklace was worth anything? She used to wear it in the 1970s. Mo, via email.

From Fendi to Dior, today’s column is all about designer goods and I couldn’t be happier – I j’adore Dior. 

This fashion house continues to create effortlessly timeless pieces while simultaneously being sympathetic to the era of when it was designed. 

If you look at this wonderful piece of jewellery that was sent in, it could have easily been worn at any time over the past one hundred years without looking out of place yet as soon as we discover that it was produced in the 1970s, that decade clearly shines through.

In late 1946, Christian Dior established the House of Dior and instantly breathed fresh air into women’s post war fashion. 

As we touched upon earlier, the ‘make do and mend’ mentality was over and in its place was a fresh, vibrant, and often daring fashion trend.

Christian didn’t think an outfit was complete without jewellery, so he soon began designing wonderful pieces to accompany the designer clothing. 

As a fashion pioneer, we can safely credit him as one of the major reasons costume jewellery has been so popular for over 80 years. 

Pieces from his earlier collections are very sought after and can demand decent prices but his golden era was in the 1950’s and 60’s when Dior collaborated with major jewellery players lie Swarovski and Hankel & Grosse. Items from this period can fetch eye-watering amounts of money. 

Even collections from the 90s and noughties can secure you a couple of hundred pounds.

The jewellery I’ve been sent, unfortunately isn’t from the big-money era of Dior but there are still legions of fans who are willing to part with their hard-earned cash to own a piece like this from the 70s. 

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This specific piece has obviously been beautifully designed, and its elegance means that it would suit an array of occasions. 

There is high demand for the woven design of this piece, and I really like the way that rhinestones and pearls have been added within the design.

It often surprises people that costume jewellery can secure good money. I think this is because it is perceived to be a throwaway object since it hasn’t been created with a precious material but if we look at sales performances over the last five years, we can see demand is high. 

I’d also hazard a guess that the huge increase in the value of gold, means that costume jewellery is more attainable.

Looking at your specific piece, there is some obvious wear and tear to the metal, pearl and rhinestones which unfortunately makes it look a little tired – at least to the trained eye – but 1970s Dior is still popular and whilst not, the most in demand, I still think you could expect to earn about £100 for this. 

I’m sure you have gorgeous memories of your mum wearing and enjoying this beautiful piece and it will always remain a part of the rich history of Dior Costume Jewellery.