MILAN — Moynat is leveraging the buzzy design week here to make its retail debut in the Italian market.
The storied French luxury bag-maker has opened its first store in Milan’s tony Via Montenapoleone, housed in a palace listed under historical protection. Spanning 2,045 square feet, the space features rooms adorned with stunning Renaissance wooden ceilings and 16th century decorations, friezes and frescoes.
An in-house team revamped the space to “respect as much as possible all the historical elements,” a Moynat spokesperson told WWD ahead of the soft opening on Monday. At the same time, the brand looked to emphasize its own craftsmanship by bringing to town archival trunks and objects that are part of its history tracing back to 1849.
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“There’s a cool mix of elements within this beautiful architecture,” said the Moynat spokesperson, underscoring how the interior concept was conceived to balance and adapt Moynat’s retail aesthetic to the original venue. “It’s a little bit different but in the same vibe because we have a specific idea of how we present the products, always in sort of niches that we can also divide it within categories. But because it’s such an important space, we built around it… to have those two vibes collide.”
The approach enables the brand to convey experiences that are unique to each of its locations, which build a network of 28 stores globally. “The client is very different from region to region and from boutique to boutique,” continued the spokesperson, drawing as examples the “very inviting, big store” in Paris’ Rue Saint-Honoré — which routinely attracts lines down the block — and the “smaller, more dynamic and fun” one the company opened in Avenue Montaigne last year.
The goal with the Milanese outpost was to create a cozy environment to start establishing a direct relationship with the local clientele, he said. The introduction to the market will center specifically on its signature trunk, which is at the core of the artistic installations the company has commissioned and that will be displayed in-store throughout the week.
“We had this huge opportunity to open during design week and since we are a house that has a long history of working with artists… we jumped on the chance to have this stage to showcase three artists, asking them to reinterpret our trunk within their world,” said the spokesperson.
In particular, Moynat invited Hall Haus, Marianna Ladreyt and longtime collaborator Michael Samuels to offer their take on the design piece.
With the Hall Haus — the Paris-based design and architecture studio founded in 2020 by Abdoulaye Niang, Sammy Bernoussi, Teddy Sanches and Zakari Boukhari and whose work draws on the popular and unifying energy of sound systems and block parties — the trunk becomes an object of gathering. Fascinated by the stacked compositions found in Moynat’s archives, the collective here merged the design with the visual culture of sound systems in an installation that recalls the speaker towers around which communities gather. Named “Trunk Haus System,” the project brings together Hall Haus’s “Olympic” monogram with Moynat’s signature M monogram, in addition to drawing on the brand’s “Limousine” trunk, whose distinctive arched form is reinterpreted as both a functional and graphic element within the work.
Millennial designer and artist Ladreyt also came up with a playful concept in her “Parkour” installation, which respects her signature practice focused on sustainability. In sync with her use of discarded beach inflatables — non-recyclable plastic materials that she transforms into furniture, accessories and wearables using artisanal leather craft techniques — she developed a soft, colorful and modular artwork made of large foam blocks covered in patchworks of upcycled floaties, inviting the public to interact with it.
In “The Footprints of Travelers,” Samuels turned trunks into two monumental sculptural ensembles of pieces removed from their original function. The first is constructed entirely from ‘60s laboratory cases and trunks, forming a tall vertical structure that almost resembles a pencil standing on its end. The second is made from storage trunks from the now-defunct London Museum and includes a ladder, a smaller wooden case, a brightly colored ‘60s Scandinavian glass vase and an upside-down Bauhaus chair.
The Moynat spokesperson highlighted how the brand looks to constantly explore how the house codes can translate and resonate today.
“It is an everyday and very positive challenge because we are being given a treasure that has so many ways to express itself,” said the spokesperson about the brand’s heritage. “Back then, those design ideas were extremely trend- and fashion-forward and the brand was very innovative in the way it operated and who it was working with… That’s why I think artists resonate so well with the house and why all the creatives feel that they have a space here, that they can create and innovate and propose very interesting things,” he said.
Artistic collaborations have always been embedded in the company’s history, starting from the one in 1905 with French painter and illustrator Henri Rapin, who served as creative director for the brand for 20 years and created the M monogram. Other creative directors throughout the brand’s history have included Ramesh Nair, current creative director at Joseph Duclos, and Nicholas Knightly, who departed in spring 2022.
Rapin’s monogram was revamped in 2024 with the M collection, featuring a new expression of the archival graphic. The color palette was modernized, adding vibrant colors ranging from red, blue, green to yellow and orange, that complemented black, gray and the classic shades of brown inspired by the vintage Moynat trunks. The iconic bag shapes were reimagined in totes of different sizes, duffel bags, bucket styles, as well as small leather goods such as passport and cardholders and address tags.
More recent collaborations saw Moynat joining forces with major artists including Japanese graphic designer and printmaker Kazumasa Nagai and Labubu’s creator Kasing Lung, as reported.
These playful tie-ups helped Moynat to increasingly reach a younger demographic that resonates with its positioning as an historical house along with the colorful casual bags and small accessories such as charms.
Founded by Pauline Moynat, the brand was revived in 2010 by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton chairman and chief executive officer Bernard Arnault’s holding company Group Agache, formerly known as Groupe Arnault.