Max Mara Whitney Bag

April 22nd, Max Mara, a long-time partner of the Whitney Museum of American Art, hosted a private cocktail party at the Top of the Standard (Boom Boom Room), to launch the Max Mara «Whitney bag», the result of an extraordinary collaboration with Renzo Piano Building Workshop, the architect of the new Whitney Museum. 

The evolution of the partnership continues with the transformation of the Max Mara’s Madison Avenue flagship boutique to an all red interior, a distinctive element of the bag and a snapshot of the sophisticated striking use of primary colors that characterizes the details of many projects by the Renzo Piano Building Workshop, including select interiors of the Whitney Museum.

The iconic red is a reference to Trisha Brown’s Roof Piece (NYC, 1971), an art performance in which dancers dressed in red danced on the rooftops of lower Manhattan, which inspired the red pieces in the Max Mara Prefall collection. 

Max Mara Chairman, Luigi Maramotti, US Director of Retail & Global Brand Ambassador, Maria Giulia Prezioso Maramotti and Creative Director, Ian Griffiths entertained guests including: Renzo and Milly Piano, Melanie Berliet, Matilde Carli, Joanne Leonhardt Cassullo, Holly Cornell, Candy Pratts Price, Grazia D’Annunzio, Laura de Gunzburg, Beth Rudin DeWoody, Becka Diamond, Claire Distenfeld, Fabrizio Ferri and Geraldina Polverelli Ferri, Prisca Franchetti, Casey Fremont Crowe, Genevieve Jones, Natalie Joos,  Rachelle Hruska, John Buffalo Mailer, Maripol, Richard Pandiscio, Brook Neidich, Nicolas Niarchos, Lauren Remington Platt,  Polina Proshkina, Pietro Quaglia, Priscilla Rattazzi, Anastasia Rogers, Peter Makebish, Robert Hurst, Kim Nicoletta Santoro.

As a product of Italian creativity, the Whitney bag features modern design and sophisticated materials directly inspired by the museum. The hallmark of the “Whitney Bag” is its elegant surface, made of soft, quality leather with distinctive ribbing that gradually becomes fine lines, detail that directly recalls the steel tie-beamed exterior of the new Whitney.

The bag’s metal detailing has been created using a special galvanic coating that echoes the building’s material and structural components. The buckles, inside pocket and signature snap hook have been inspired by the building’s unique façade, and the bag’s contrasting-red lining was chosen to mirror the striking use of primary colors characteristic of the Renzo Piano Building Workshop’s designs.

The “Whitney Bag” will be available in an exclusive collectors’ edition, limited to 250 specially-stamped and numbered bags in a light blue-grey color reminiscent of the museum’s metallic façade (with Renzo Piano’s wife receiving #001). Black, Bordeaux and tan versions of the bag will also be available in three different sizes.

Just as the Whitney Museum blends seamlessly into the landscape of the Meatpacking District, the “Whitney Bag” has been designed to be an elegant-yet-versatile style that fits easily into the feminine wardrobe.