Fendi

Review of Fendi Spy Bag Ad Campaign by Photographer Stevie Dance with models Amelia Gray, Xiao Wen Ju, and Gabbriette

Fendi is bringing back one of its most iconic bags, the Spy, with a playful new digital campaign that taps into early-2000s nostalgia and our current obsession with being seen. First released in 2005, the Spy Bag quickly became a celebrity favorite, spotted on Y2K icons like Lindsay Lohan, Gwen Stefani, and Hilary Duff. Now, it is getting a fresh reissue for Fall 2025, right in time for Fendi’s 100th anniversary.

To reintroduce it, Fendi launched “Spy Bag Returns”, a digital campaign starring Amelia Gray, Xiao Wen Ju, and Gabbriette, and shot and directed by Stevie Dance. The campaign plays with the idea of surveillance: each model appears to be caught on hidden cameras as they wander through nondescript cities, each carrying a new version of the bag (baby blue leather, bubblegum pink, or cozy shearling). But while the footage mimics grainy spy cams, the poses are anything but accidental. There is a clear awareness of the camera. It’s not just voyeurism, it’s performative voyeurism: the idea of being watched becomes part of the performance.

Fendi leans into that dynamic with a smart interactive twist. Click through to the campaign’s site, and you land on a page that looks like a digital film contact sheet, where you can scroll through stills and short video clips of each model “caught” on camera. The layout mimics a surveillance monitor straight out of a spy movie, while the endless scroll echoes the flow of social media. It’s a nod to old-school analog photography, but it also feels perfectly suited to the age of curated online personas—a little chaotic, a little intimate, and very much designed to be browsed, paused, and shared.

The campaign brings the Spy Bag back with a wink, updating its original cool-girl energy for a new generation without losing what made it iconic. And at a time when Y2K revivals are everywhere, Fendi’s take feels knowing and self-aware.

“Spy Bag Returns” is less about being truly “caught” and more about controlling the narrative. Just like the original Spy Bag, with its hidden compartments and softly sculpted shape, the campaign plays with secrecy and showmanship at once. Its comeback isn’t just about nostalgia, but about visibility, performance, and the thrill of being watched when you’re in on the game.