Olivia Rodrigo has been pulling style references from an eclectic cohort. One minute it’s an internet-enraging babydoll dress in homage to Courtney Love, the next it’s ballet flats and vintage denim via Jane Birkin, followed by high-shine hotpants and knee-length Doc Martins plucked from the smoking area of a regional nightclub circa 2012. While the pull of polyester shorts and French-girl faves may be strong, there’s one fictional fashion spectre which leaves no celeb unscathed: Carrie Bradshaw.
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Skipping over some of the more controversial Sex And The City styling moments, (berets, useless belts and Keira Knightley-adjacent baker boy hats), Olivia stepped out in Los Angeles carrying one of the show’s most enduring exports, the Fendi Baguette. Carrie is as intertwined with the Y2K classic as Jane and her bashed-up Birkins. The Italian brand was one of the first houses to lend SJP and her pals wardrobe pieces, with the Fendi Baguette becoming a recurring character in its own right. When Carrie is robbed at gunpoint for her bag in Sex And The City’s third series, she famously corrects him: “It’s a Baguette.”
Beyond Carrie and her real-life counterpart, Sarah Jessica Parker, the Baguette has remained a favourite since its introduction in 1997. Against a backdrop of aggressively quiet luxury icons like The Row’s Margaux and Half Moon bags, the silhouette continues to make a case for a dose of fun, with Rihanna, Bella Hadid and Paris Hilton all longtime fans. As for Olivia Rodrigo, the singer executed the Bradshaw brief with flying colours. Pairing her Baguette with a baby tee and Miu Miu slingbacks, visions of Carrie herself click-clacking down a Manhattan sidewalk in a cloud of credit card debt spring to mind. Bags may come and go, but the Baguette is forever.
