Mornin’ Monday readers! Fendi’s been getting a lotta love recently with their monsters, furry keychains and embellished handbags. It’s no surprise coming from a fashion powerhouse that has a long history of hits and loyal fans. Today’s post goes back in time to showcase some of these vintage hits: spotlight please, the Fendi pequin!

I’ve been collecting vintage Fendi Pequin accessories for almost 5 years now. It all started with this Fendi bag.

Bought off ebay, it was in lovely condition and just the right size for me at the time. A lot of the ‘It’ bags at that time were admittedly beautiful but also darn heavy (exhibit A: Celine). This bag is light and roomy. It didn’t come with the original strap, I’ve paired it with a vintage Fendi strap I also found on ebay just earlier this year.

After this bag, I was hooked. Did some quick googling and found out this bag is part of Fendi’s ‘Pequin’ line. Introduced in 1983 as the ‘non-logo,‘ it’s aged remarkably well and is well poised to take advantage of the current backlash against in your face logos.

I love the Pequin print for both its understated quietness and color combinations. In fact, I rank Fendi as the best brand when it comes to color (just check out their new tri-color By The Way bags). Whoever’s in charge really knows their color wheel.

This demure exterior blue of this wallet is livened by a rich, deep burgundy leather interior. I’m also a sucker for gold hardware. The warmth of the gold plays so well off of the leather.

This little wallet always stands out in the sometimes dark recesses of my handbag. It even came with the original tag.

My latest acquisition, this little thing is actually a business card holder. I haven’t used it much yet, but I’m thinking after taking out the insert, it’ll be perfect for the bare basics when traveling light.

There’s a lot of vintage Fendi Pequin out there – and some of it is in pretty rough shape and some of it is sadly fake. With a little patience though you can find pieces that haven’t even been out of the box. For enterprising vintage Fendi hunters, a few tips to help the search 😀

• Fendi was an established fashion powerhouse by the time they rolled out the Pequin print. This means, just like Louis Vuitton’s print, the quality should be top notch. Lines should match up, the stitching should be straight and even.
• Any hardware should also be of similar top quality. Embossing should be clear and centered.
• If there’s one thing to be wary of with vintage Fendi, it’s the edging. It’s prone to getting sticky and peeling off in the heat. I’ve found that the canvas print can hold up pretty well over time, but the edging does not. Here’s what happened to the edging on my bag just from having the handles touching it while in my closet in the summer. So it’s not surprising that this is a common condition problem, especially on ebay.
• There is usually a serial number on the inside of each piece, often hidden in the pocket. My blue wallet has one, but the white one does not. Frankly I can’t find enough information on the meaning of the serial numbers to be able to check if its real or not. And unfortunately a string of numbers is easy enough to fake.

Thanks for reading this Monday – and share your vintage Fendi love in the comments!