The return of an icon. Paco Rabanne‘s bag 69 returns to being the object of desire, 50 years after its birth
The new generations simply call it “chain bag” because of its design.
In reality, Paco Rabanne baptizes the bag with the year of his birth, “69”.
It is a fact that the Design Museum in London has selected it among the 50 bags that have changed the world.
The designer, thanks to his training as an architect, designs every accessory as if it were a real design object: it is not limited to traditional materials, but on the contrary it experiments and creates new structures that also reflect the context of the era.
It was 1969, the year of the first moon landing, when the enfant terrible designs a collection, that of 1969, which reflects the technological and futuristic aesthetics of that period.
The first “69” bag by Paco Rabanne is made up of a series of steel discs and metal rings, which together form an avant-garde structure.
It is immediately a success: it is worn by Brigitte Bardot and Françoise Hardy.
Over the years it will be interpreted with different materials, from plastic to leather. The bag becomes a cult object in the sixties (and not only).
In 1999 the designer died and only in 2013 Julien Dossena took over the reins of the Maison.
The Fall Winter 2018 2019 and Spring Summer 2019 collection are a tribute to this disco-futuristic aesthetic, where the bags and garments see metal inserts, chain rings that join aluminum discs, sequins and leather.
The chain becomes a material texture, a charming and light armor to show off as a bag or dress.
Today the bag 69 is an example of fashion design, a cult object that wants to be an inspiration for new bag designers.
