Are designer electronics… hot again? Fendi’s most recent team-up with Devialet sure seems to say so. 

If one’s “For You” page has reached the deep trenches of fashion content, one likely would have noticed a part of fashion history that has recently resurfaced in interest — designer electronics. Not to be confused with the audaciously designed (and priced) technological releases that defy the conventions of design, but the specific era in the late 2000s when luxury fashion houses were hastily teaming up with electronic giants to create “designer” versions of smartphones, headphones, and even cameras. Inevitably, as we continue to feed the long-dormant desires of the Y2K aesthetic, the trend has returned 20 years later. Fendi has elected itself as one of the first to participate in its resurgence.

First revealed in the house’s Fall Winter 2024 collection, the Fendi x Devialet Mania portable handheld speaker is at the centre of this new development. With FF iconography splattered across its exterior, it is the way it lends the disguise of a bag that gives its overall appeal. Although frankly, it can only function as a speaker. And like how we once replaced our phones in the 2000s with the same spending habits of handbags, this crossover can only suggest one thing — are we entering an era where luxury electronic releases are fuelled by the desires of fashion?

Once you are done with this story, click here to catch up with our August 2024 issue.