Elizabeth’s Cake Emporium is immensely honoured to have been commissioned by renowned Italian luxury Maison Fendi to create 12 Peekaboo luxury handbag cakes for both their Peekaboo Handbag Bar and their Pop Up Caffe in Harrods.
Fashion, food and Fendi are one of Italy’s most significant exports and all three have come together in glorious harmony at Harrods.
The late legendary Karl Lagerfeld first sketched Fendi’s first Double F logo in 1965, in all three seconds, no less! The iconic symbol of the Fendi brand has since been through hundreds of variations. It has been decorated on everything from BMX bikes to Kanye West’s head, and now, for the first time, the acronym of the famed fashion house has been placed on cookies, cakes and foam lattes.
Fendi invited LA-based streetwear designer and street artist Joshua Vides to design both the Peekaboo Handbag Bar and Caffe interior in his trademark black and white illustration graphics, creating a contemporary monochrome dining experience. He cleverly made it sleek and Fendi monogram heavy and it delivers the most stunning visual impact.
Everything, from menus, floors, walls and plates to palette has been branded with the “FF” logo. Even taxis in the area got in on the act and they also display the distinctive black and white branding.
On the menu in the Pop Up Caffe are delicious breakfasts, cappuccinos and filled focaccias for lunch. Larger appetites can indulge in full-course repasts of antipasti, insalate (the beef carpaccio is a house special) and mains of lasagne, aubergine parmigiana.
The one of a kind, Fendi themed wonderland pop up cafe, set to run till the end of August, has been deemed the coolest and most instagrammable pop-up cafe ever by Vogue.
The pop-up Peekaboo Bar, located on the ground floor of Harrods, features a vibrant and glitzy array of handbags in bold colours and enables you to customise your own Peekaboo Mini bag with an array of mix-and-match bodies, handles and straps. There are more than 20 different handbag bodies, 25 handles (some with glitter finishes) and seven straps to choose from, epitomising customisation at its best.
The Peekaboo Handbag Cakes by Elizabeth’s Cake Emporium
After we had calmed down from the excitement of being selected to create a range of mini Peekaboo handbag cakes by Fendi, we were understandably very nervous as the enormity of the task we faced hit us.
We knew it was important for the handbag cakes to look chic, realistic and stylish, and they also had to be presented beautifully since they were to provide the only source of colour to the monochromatic colour scheme.
After a few visits to view the beautifully crafted Fendi bags at their flagship Bond Street store, we produced some drawings and our fabricator produced a prototype form. This was experimented with, and after a few trials, we produced the 12 mini Peekaboo handbag cakes, matching the vibrant Fendi colours as closely as possible.
As you can imagine, the handbag cakes were delivered to Harrods in time for the opening of the bar and cafe on the 1st of July with great care and excitement! We were very honoured and proud to see our stylish handbag cakes make their debut lined up along the length of the breakfast table for press and influencers, with most, including the photographer, assuming our handbag cakes were the actual Fendi Peekaboo handbags.
Even the Peekaboo Bar and Fendi Cafe customers were not left out, as many often tried to pick up the handbag cakes thinking they were the actual Peekaboos! This has led to ongoing repairs to the handbag cakes, but it gives us an excuse to keep visiting Harrods.
The Harrods Fendi Caffe is a must-visit for anyone who likes fun fashion with hearty Italian food. Buon appetito.
Written by Elizabeth Solaru [email protected]