Confession: I’ve at all times wished a pet. I like the concept of a playmate, a cherished object of my affection, and a companion with character. Sadly, my present life-style isn’t conducive to a four-legged creature that requires 4 walks a day—however there may be at all times Weekend Max Mara’s Pasticcino Bag (and it’s hypoallergenic in addition).
“It’s like slightly pet and your greatest pal, since you hug it and you’ll take it with you,” co-owner Nicola Gerber Maramotti, an envoy of Weekend Max Mara’s Pasticcino Bag World Tour, tells me. As she talks, her eyes crinkle with affection and her palms make a large, hugging movement, elbow-cradling an imaginary bag the best way you would possibly hand-carry a Maltese whereas strolling by the streets of Rome, as one does.
First launched in 2016 and named after the Italian phrase for “small pastry,” the Pasticcino was designed to evoke “candy emotions,” Maramotti says. In her adopted nation of Italy, “your grandparents will convey out candy little pastries with cherries or raspberries on high, and so they’re so lovely to have a look at that you just don’t even suppose to eat them,” she says. Maybe its followers can sense that the fashion was made for recalling “good, previous recollections,” for the Pasticcino turned an instantaneous hit, and Maramotti as soon as described it as “one of many most-searched baggage on the web.”
Fans continued to clamor for extra Pastaccinos; and so, in 2022, the bag began to make the rounds. Annually, it “visits” a brand new vacation spot, the place the nation’s greatest artisans encourage and create new variations. Previous tour stops and designs have included Venice, with Fortuny materials, and Paris, with guipure lace. Though the form stays the identical—a confection of gathered cloth topped with a kiss-lock clasp, that includes different-size boules (ball closures)—the brand new combos delight its collectors. This yr, the Pasticcino visited Kyoto, introducing new petite boules. Though Japan could seem a world away from Italy, Maramotti factors out that Italian author, photographer, and anthropologist Fosco Maraini as soon as described Kyoto and Florence as parallel cities. “On the opposite aspect of the world, we found a way of magnificence, historical past, and household that basically made us really feel at dwelling,” she says.
Max Mara additionally labored with Kawashima Selkon Textiles, a silk producer that has been de- signing positive materials for formalwear, interiors, and obis since 1843, and Bottega Nakamori-Kumihimo, a fourth-generation firm that makes a speciality of silk cording. At Kawashima, the crew appeared by an archive of 1000’s of materials, narrowing it down to 6 silk jacquards that instinctively spoke to them like “love at first sight,” Maramotti says.
The crew additionally discovered the which means behind their choices: A pink tree of life sample symbolized fertility, and a floral design of historic mirrors and brocades was impressed by the Tempyō interval. Bottega Nakamori-Kumihimo’s artisans hand-made every boule, and the detailed work concerned meant they may create solely eight per day. For a playful and graphic contact, the boules for this version are available contrasting, eye-catching colours. With six variants and two sizes, the Kyoto-inspired variations are restricted editions. And the Pasticcino will proceed to journey: Subsequent yr’s tour cease is already chosen, Maramotti teases. She received’t reveal extra, however guarantees that “it’s tremendous.” You’ll simply have to attend to see what it’s.
A model of this story seems within the September 2024 subject of ELLE.
GET THE LATEST ISSUE OF ELLE
Kathleen Hou is ELLE”s Magnificence Director. Beforehand, she held the identical title at New York Journal’s The Lower. She’s appeared in publications such as New York, The New York Instances Journal, Vogue India, Forbes, and Attract. She was additionally a co-founder of Donate Magnificence, a grassroots magnificence donation mission began in the course of the COVID-19 disaster, which donated over 500,000 merchandise to over 30,000 healthcare staff throughout 500+ hospitals.
