What does a Renzo Piano-designed handbag look like? Max Mara’s ‘Whitney’ has the answer

‘A rich bouillabaisse,’ is how Italian architect Renzo Piano described his design for New York’s Whitney Museum – an asymmetric assemblage of steel, concrete and glass between the Hudson River and the High Line designed to reflect the neighbourhood’s industrial roots. But Piano, who is best known for the postmodern Pompidou Centre in Paris (co-created with Richard Rogers) and London’s towering Shard, also saw in the building’s stacked terraces and jutting metal walkways a symbol of a liberated, creatively charged America.

‘The Whitney’s collection is about the liberty and freedom of American art, and the building should reflect that,’ he said when the museum opened, replacing the Marcel Breuer-designed former location on Madison Avenue and 75th Street. ‘None of these artists were very polite, after all. So why should we be?’

Max Mara’s Renzo Piano-designed ‘Whitney’ bag turns ten

Yesterday evening (21 May 2025), the Whitney celebrated a decade in the Meatpacking District address with a typically starry gala (attendees spanned artists, curators, socialites and plenty of celebrities, from The White Lotus’ Michelle Monaghan and Leslie Bibb to Claire Danes, Andie Macdowell and Laura Harrier). Also in attendance: the night’s most ubiquitous accessory, Max Mara’s ‘Whitney’ bag, which was designed in a collaboration between Renzo Piano Building Workshop and the Italian fashion house to celebrate the building’s opening in 2015.

So, what does a Renzo Piano-designed handbag look like? The ‘Whitney’ – perhaps unsurprisingly – finds its inspiration in the building’s architectural contours. Namely, the blue-grey steel panels which line the Whitney’s façade, and are perhaps its most recognisable design feature. ‘Our aim was to apply one of the most characteristic elements of the museum project to the bag,’ said Piano when the bag was released. ‘Hence the idea of the modular strips enveloping the exterior.’

In the years since, the bag’s ‘ribbed’ exterior has made it one of Max Mara’s most distinctive accessories. Such is its influence, the ‘Whitney’ is now part of the collections at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris and the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. The original version came in an ‘aluminium’ shade of leather to reflect the colour of the Whitney’s façade (it has been reimagined in various hues in the time since).

Piano, who said it would be the only time undertaking such a fashion project, wanted to place reduction at the heart of the handbag’s design: ‘We tried to maintain [something] simple and pure, working only on the details by applying a creative use of technology and placing the accent on respect for the materials,’ he said. As such, the only branding is a subtle embossed Max Mara logo and ‘Designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop’ on the bag’s interior.

To celebrate the anniversary, Max Mara has created a new ‘edition’ of the bag spanning 13 new colours – from blush pink and ’lichen’ green to classic shades of brown and black – across five sizes, as well as a new ‘five-ribbed’ version. Meanwhile, a reedition of the original aluminium-hued ‘Whitney’ bag will be reissued in a limited edition of 125 pieces.

The Max Mara ‘Whitney’ bag is available from Max Mara stores and the brand’s website.

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