High Five: Max Mara Celebrates Five Years Of The Whitney Bag
What happens when the worlds of fashion and architecture collide? Max Mara’s Whitney Bag, that’s what. Launched in 2015 to mark the re-opening of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the eponymous handbag is the fruit of a collaboration between creative director Ian Griffiths and the Renzo Piano Building Workshop. This year, as the cult design celebrates its fifth birthday, Max Mara adds a touch of art into the mix as well, introducing a special anniversary edition dedicated to the modernist painter Florine Stettheimer.
Artist, feminist, poet and activist ante-litteram, Stettheimer was a trailblazer in her own right (she is credited with painting the first female nude self-portrait), whose works were characterised by vivid colours, a purposeful naiveté, and a whimsical sense of humour. Her vibrant 1931 work Sun, in particular, serves as the afflatus for the refreshed Whitney Bag.
The key elements of the original are preserved: the architectural silhouette, the short but stout top handles, the snap hook, and the distinctive ribbing that runs vertically down the exterior, recalling the tie-beamed façade of its namesake museum. But the latest iteration also features a floral-printed lining and five new Sun-inspired colourways – soft red, dusty pink, buttercup yellow, tangerine, and rich purple.
When the Whitney Bag made its debut back in 2015, Griffiths remarked that he hoped in 20 years the bag would be as much of an icon as the museum itself, and judging from the first five, it’s safe to say that’s a given.
The 5th anniversary Whitney Bag will be available in stores by mid-April
