Le Coeur Leather Shoulder Bag — Black

Azzedine Alaïa built his house on the body: dresses cut so close they became a second skin, seams placed exactly where they would sculpt rather than simply join. When Pieter Mulier took over as creative director, his first collection for Winter/Spring 2022 introduced Le Coeur, and it carries that sculptural instinct straight into leather goods. It is a bag in the shape of a heart, but the heart is built from tension and volume rather than drawn as an outline. Mulier has framed it as a study in pure, voluminous form, and in the seasons since it has become one of the defining accessories of his Alaïa.

The body is smooth black calfskin, shaped by a single cut and a pair of darts that pull the leather into three dimensions, swelling through the centre and narrowing to the point at the base so the bag holds its form even when empty. A two-way zip runs along the top edge and opens onto a lambskin-lined interior sized for a phone, cards and keys. The house name is stamped discreetly on the front, the hardware is silver throughout, and the leather strap adjusts from roughly 70 to 135 cm, long enough to sit high on the shoulder or cross the body. It measures about 21 by 18 by 7 cm. Made in Italy.

Read in black, Le Coeur is a heart bag that refuses to be cute. There is no applied ornament, no red-heart kitsch and no novelty hardware, only the shape held by the leather. It is couture tailoring logic applied to the simplest symbol there is, which is exactly why it reads as Alaïa rather than as a gimmick. One size.