CULTURE CARRIER: Museum-worthy fashion is a thing, particularly the first week of May, and the Emirati cultural institution Louvre Abu Dhabi is unveiling its first bag design in Venice ahead of the Art Biennale 2026.
Developed in collaboration with Dellaluna, a Venetian maker of leather goods, perfumes and fine jewelry, the shoulder bag, flat as a pochette with a single short strap, draws from Arab architecture and specifically the museum’s signature dome.
The 590-foot, 8,267-ton canopy designed by Jean Nouvel that appears to float over Saadiyat Island, where the Louvre Abu Dhabi is located, informed the geometric embossing on the east-west bag style, mirroring the dome’s so-called “Rain of Light” pattern.
“For Louvre Abu Dhabi, being a universal museum means focusing on what unites us: the stories of creativity rooted in our shared humanity,” said Lamya Al Nuaimi, development, marketing and communications director at Louvre Abu Dhabi.
“The Louvre Abu Dhabi Bag, created in collaboration with Dellaluna, reflects this universal exchange, showing how ideas, materials and craft travel across cultures and histories,” she said.
The bag, crafted from togo leather, is offered in a single taupe iteration with 18-karat gold-plated hardware. It requires 150 hours to complete and retails for 2,500 euros.
“Collaborating with Louvre Abu Dhabi is the greatest honor of my career, not only because it has long been my favorite museum in the world, but because it brings Dellaluna full circle. The brand was born as a love letter to Venice, to the original meeting point of cultures. Louvre Abu Dhabi carries that same spirit into our time: a universal museum, the first of its kind in the Arab world, built on the conviction that civilizations are richer in dialogue,” said Silvia Paulon, founder and creative director of Dellaluna, whose Venice flagship is located a stone’s throw from St. Mark’s Square.
“To create something together with an institution that embodies everything the brand was founded to honor feels profoundly meaningful. I have always believed that beauty only endures when there is culture behind it, and this collaboration is the truest expression of that belief,” she said.
The Louvre Abu Dhabi x Dellaluna bag.
Courtesy of Dellaluna
The bag design is being unveiled on Wednesday in Venice with a cocktail event hosted at the Fortuny Palazzina.
As reported, the venue — once home to the late American Elsie McNeill Lee and Countess Gozzi — has been reimagined for the third time by Armenian Lebanese interior designer Chahan Minassian and opened to the public on the occasion of the Venice Art Biennale 2026, which kicks off Saturday.
Dellaluna — founded by Paulon in 2019 — has already toyed with collaborations, linking last year with Paris restaurant institution Caviar Kaspia, famous for its caviar-topped baked potato, for a permanent collection of bags.
