Fendi Peekaboo ISeeU bag Inner Beauty Spring Summer 2026 by Maria Grazia Chiuri. Story by Eleonora de Gray, Editor-in-Chief of RUNWAY MAGAZINE. Photo Courtesy: Fendi.

Maria Grazia Chiuri’s Return to FENDI: An Explosive Comeback with ‘Inner Beauty’ Bags

In one of the most unexpected moves of the decade, Maria Grazia Chiuri returns to FENDI — not as a nostalgic gesture, but as a provocation. After a turbulent reign at Dior defined by feminist slogans and aesthetic restraint, Chiuri comes back to the house where her career began, now as Chief Creative Officer. And she doesn’t tiptoe. She detonates.

Before unveiling her first full collection for Fall/Winter 2026–2027 in Milan this February, Chiuri has already served an unapologetic preview: the Spring/Summer 2026 Peekaboo and Baguette capsule. These bags aren’t just accessories — they’re an act of reclamation. Of craft. Of whimsy. Of power. They mark a definitive departure from the sterile over-intellectualization that plagued her tenure at Dior. And yes — they’re brilliant.

Let’s be honest. Dior was a cage — one stitched in beige tulle, high-minded marketing language, and half-formed couture ideas. Chiuri’s collections there often felt like PowerPoint presentations on empowerment. Her bags, however? Always her strong suit. And now, liberated from the weight of Dior’s legacy and tasked with breathing new life into FENDI, she’s finally speaking a clearer creative language. And it’s embroidered, sequined, and searingly alive.

The Peekaboo Renaissance: Inner Beauty Reimagined

Created in 2009, the Peekaboo bag has always been about duality — outside and inside, elegance and play. But Chiuri has taken this idea further. With her SS26 “Inner Beauty” series, she doesn’t just nod to Fendi’s artisan tradition; she weaponizes it. The inside of the bags is no longer a detail — it becomes the drama.

• Turquoise Temptation: A dove gray calfskin shell opens to reveal a cascading waterfall of turquoise sequins in three shapes. A staggering 55 hours of craftsmanship. The outside is silent; the inside sings.
• Mahogany and Anemone: This version goes deeper into jewel-toned sophistication. Rich mahogany brown leather conceals a gleaming mass of anemone purple sequins. It’s like a violet storm tucked beneath restraint — 40 hours of embroidery that never begs for attention, but commands it nonetheless.
• Pixel Noir: The most daring of them all — black calfskin, minimal on the outside, pixelated chaos within. Over 64 hours of hand embroidery creates a hyper-modern digital effect with multi-colored sequins. This isn’t a bag. It’s a rebellion stitched in code.
• Yellow Joy: Crafted in broom yellow calfskin, this Peekaboo is spring on steroids. Inside, a floral mosaic of multicolored candy-like studs pops like a vintage garden party in Technicolor. Chiuri leans into whimsy without losing control — something she rarely dared at Dior.
• Cappuccino Lime: Subtle on the outside, electric on the inside. The small Peekaboo in cappuccino leather opens to reveal lime green rectangular sequins, creating a sophisticated pixelated shimmer. This one doesn’t scream. It purrs.

Each of these bags holds the essentials — phone, wallet, tablet — but also a secret. And for once, Chiuri is letting the secrets do the talking.

The Baguette: From Canvas to Canvas

And then, there’s the Baguette. Maria Grazia Chiuri’s FENDI Baguette is no longer just a bag. It’s a blank canvas. Literally.

One standout model comes in perforated cotton — the body unadorned, the surface full of potential. It’s sold as a DIY kit, complete with FENDI-labeled embroidery floss, thimbles, and needles. Not “customizable” in the usual luxury sense (choose your strap, pick your emoji). This is couture meets cross-stitch. Craft meets concept. A ready-made heirloom waiting for your hand — or your child’s — to mark it with memory.

It’s nostalgic, yes. But also wildly radical. In a market oversaturated with logos and artificial exclusivity, Chiuri proposes something dangerously pure: personal authorship. Great concept!

From Dior’s Hollow Empire to Fendi’s Flourishing Republic

This collection is not just about handbags. It’s about power — the power of returning to roots, of reclaiming authorship, of admitting when something didn’t work (yes, Dior), and choosing to begin again. Like Hamlet’s Denmark, Dior today seems rotten from within — strategy without soul, design without risk. FENDI, on the other hand, has given Chiuri the one thing she never had at Dior: freedom.

At FENDI, she’s no longer forced to intellectualize femininity into theory. She’s allowed to craft it. Embroider it. Conceal it behind calfskin and sequins — or reveal it like a surprise garden inside a clean leather fold.

The result? Bags that whisper, then shout. Pieces that allow luxury to be both personal and powerful again.

What Comes Next — and Why This Moment Matters

Maria Grazia Chiuri will present her first full collection for FENDI Fall/Winter 2026–2027 in Milan this February. But what she has already delivered — these few bags, these intentional provocations — signals something far greater than a warm-up.

She hasn’t just returned to where she started. She’s rewritten the purpose of starting at all.

What makes this moment unique is not just the craftsmanship — though the sequins, pixel embroidery, and floral stud mosaics are executed with astonishing precision. Nor is it simply the playful inversion of the Peekaboo’s inner drama, or the DIY Baguette that invites the wearer into the atelier.

It’s the concept behind it all — a radical rejection of passive luxury.

In an industry choking on AI-generated patterns and hollow branding exercises, Chiuri is offering something dangerously sincere: intimacy. Humor. Imperfection by design. She’s crafting bags that respond, not just project – THE CREATIVE CONCEPT. Pieces that flirt with control but reward chaos — the chaos of color, of hand-stitching, of interiority.

The inside becomes the story. The bag becomes the dialogue. And the woman — the wearer — becomes the author.

This isn’t a rebrand. It’s not a comeback. It’s a reclamation — of creative instinct, of risk, of the power of concept over costume.

And if this is the new FENDI under Chiuri — playful, precise, deeply personal — then we’re not just witnessing a new chapter.

We’re witnessing a woman finally allowed to write her own book… or bag.

See Fendi Baguette Spring Summer 2026

See Fendi selection of Fendi Peekaboo – Inner Beauty Spring Summer 2026