How Alaïa’s Heart Bag Became 2023’s Most Romantic It

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In a rare interview, creative director Pieter Mulier explains why the bag is so enchanting

Bags that don't really look like bags are a running theme in luxury. Recent and upcoming runway collections have included, in no particular order: glossy patent leather bags molded into the form of dog bones, dinosaurs, and pumpkins; bedazzled top-handle totes whose handles are actually overripe bananas; pigeon bags with precisely painted feathers and a mischievous glint in their beady eyes.

The take that has most spoken to me is Alaïa's Le Cœur. It's a crossbody bag with a curved compartment resembling the outline of a loosely sketched heart, topped with a demure leather or chain strap. Le Cœur arrived in stores last winter. I admired it from afar in a handful of bag recommendation roundups, and left it at that. Then I saw it up close in early March, perched next to a fashion publicist on its own cushion in a dimly lit bar, and I fell in love. It made me romanticize what my life would look like with Le Cœur in it.

You could categorize fashion's overall infatuation with the heart-shaped crossbody as a scaled-up version of my personal, slow-burn romance. The style appeared intermittently in street style throughout 2022, black and red leather hearts popping up outside the spring/summer 2023 runways and in the wardrobes of celebrities including Dua Lipa and Selena Gomez. Then, more than a year after Alaïa first released Le Cœur, it made its debut on the quarterly Lyst Index in March. The list verifies your vague sense that a certain product is everywhere by measuring search activity for it; searches for Le Cœur jumped 39 percent last quarter, placing it in the top 10 items alongside Bottega Veneta's sold-out drop earrings and Adidas's Gazelle sneakers. It transcended mere popularity to achieve viral status.

"I was very happy and proud to see that so many different women took to Le Cœur, each time in their own and intimate way," Alaïa creative director Pieter Mulier told BAZAAR. "They understood that you can wear it from morning to evening. Almost like a jewel—a very desirable, feminine, and ‘cute’ jewel."

In its way, the bag is a jewel of Mulier's critically lauded tenure at the house. It debuted in the Winter/Spring 2022 collection, Mulier's first for Alaïa, which paid homage to the 1992 "Mon Cœur est à Papa" collection by the late Azzedine Alaïa, who passed in 2017. The lineup, including reinterpretations of Alaïa's eyelet cutouts and poplin shirting, was Mulier's "testament to the timeless bond between the past and the future of the house."

A heart-shaped bag could have gone a few ways: a portable surrealist sculpture, a photorealistic organ bag, a shiny box of chocolates with a top handle. None of these approaches would feel true to Alaïa's history or Mulier's own design ethos. Alaïa's take is curved, minimal, and elegant—understatedly playful, like a heart lightly sketched in a notebook.

"More than just a bag, Le Cœur is a pure voluminous shape. Volumes and sculptural shapes are at the core of my inspiration," Mulier explained. "And Le Cœur is also, in a way, a classic motif of elegant simplicity. All of that embodies Alaïa's quest for timeless beauty."

This interpretation was more than satisfactory. Lisa Park, vice president and general merchandise manager of footwear, handbags, and soft accessories at Bergdorf Goodman, said Le Cœur has been a "hit" since it first arrived on shelves in January 2022. She considers the day-to-night functionality part of the appeal: It is a hands-free crossbody with a surprisingly spacious interior, carrying the latest iPhone along with the accoutrements of a daily commute. But that distinctive heart shape is a step above a leather envelope or saddle bag. "It's one of those pieces that just makes you smile—the perfect blend of whimsy and romance," Park said.

This isn't a love story that ends with the success of the first, simple style. Mulier calls the bag a "style playground": The shape is now an emblem of the house, but it can be reinvented each season. Some reeditions pay homage to the heart of Alaïa's design history, with heritage eyelets or leopard print. Others embrace gothic romance with studs, spikes, and dripping rhinestone embellishments; one bag grew two sizes into an oversize, zip-up clutch. The silhouette's runaway popularity is also inspiring creativity throughout the design studio: "It even became a theme we extended to other categories, like for example the shoes, with the Cœur Mules," Mulier said.

The designer can't help but romanticize the design himself. Mulier said the heart shape reflects "Alaïa's family spirit, its quest of love and beauty for all, [and] its unlimited possibilities" all at once.

"It's the perfect piece to enter the house: It embodies all our values and codes," he continued. "Le Cœur enhances my will to open Alaïa to a younger and more inclusive audience."

Just like Park said, seeing these bags out in the wild always makes me grin. They’re luxurious by virtue of being Alaïa, but their shape is inherently sentimental. When I stumble upon one—which is often, at dinners and press appointments populated by fashion editors and influencers—I always think of the phrase "close to the heart" and imagine what the owner is holding in their literal Alaïa heart. They may not have anything particularly special in tow; but simply by holding their favorite lipstick or a phone overflowing with unread messages, and acquiring the patina of everyday use, the bag seems animated with their spirit.

This bag doesn't look like a typical bag, and according to its designer, I’m not reading too far into it. "We are facing dark times, so we need fashion to be a source of ‘freshness,’ amusement, and beauty," Mulier reflected. "To me, you can find all of that in new, unconventional, and pure shapes." Le Cœur is the heartbeat of the trend.

Halie LeSavage is the fashion commerce editor at Harper's BAZAAR. Her style reporting covers everything from reviewing the best designer products to profiling emerging brands and designers. Previously, she was the founding retail writer at Morning Brew and a fashion associate at Glamour.

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