Confession: I’ve always wanted a pet. I like the idea of a playmate, a cherished object of my affection, and a companion with personality. Unfortunately, my current lifestyle isn’t conducive to a four-legged creature that requires four walks a day—but there is always Weekend Max Mara’s Pasticcino Bag (and it’s hypoallergenic to boot).
“It’s like a little pet and your best friend, because you hug it and you can take it with you,” co-owner Nicola Gerber Maramotti, an ambassador of Weekend Max Mara’s Pasticcino Bag World Tour, tells me. As she talks, her eyes crinkle with affection and her hands make a wide, hugging motion, elbow-cradling an imaginary bag the way you might hand-carry a Maltese while walking through the streets of Rome, as one does.
First released in 2016 and named after the Italian word for “small pastry,” the Pasticcino was designed to evoke “sweet feelings,” Maramotti says. In her adopted country of Italy, “your grandparents will bring out sweet little pastries with cherries or raspberries on top, and they’re so beautiful to look at that you don’t even think to eat them,” she says. Perhaps its fans can sense that the style was made for recalling “good, old memories,” for the Pasticcino became an immediate hit, and Maramotti once described it as “one of the most-searched bags on the internet.”
Enthusiasts continued to clamor for more Pastaccinos; and so, in 2022, the bag started to make the rounds. Each year, it “visits” a new destination, where the country’s best artisans inspire and create new versions. Past tour stops and designs have included Venice, with Fortuny fabrics, and Paris, with guipure lace. Although the shape remains the same—a confection of gathered fabric topped with a kiss-lock clasp, featuring different-size boules (ball closures)—the new combinations delight its collectors. This year, the Pasticcino visited Kyoto, introducing new petite boules. Although Japan may seem a world away from Italy, Maramotti points out that Italian writer, photographer, and anthropologist Fosco Maraini once described Kyoto and Florence as parallel cities. “On the other side of the world, we discovered a sense of beauty, history, and family that really made us feel at home,” she says.
Max Mara also worked with Kawashima Selkon Textiles, a silk producer that has been de- signing fine fabrics for formalwear, interiors, and obis since 1843, and Bottega Nakamori-Kumihimo, a fourth-generation company that specializes in silk cording. At Kawashima, the team looked through an archive of thousands of fabrics, narrowing it down to six silk jacquards that instinctively spoke to them like “love at first sight,” Maramotti says.
The team also learned the meaning behind their selections: A pink tree of life pattern symbolized fertility, and a floral design of ancient mirrors and brocades was inspired by the Tempyō period. Bottega Nakamori-Kumihimo’s artisans hand-made each boule, and the detailed work involved meant they could create only eight per day. For a playful and graphic touch, the boules for this edition come in contrasting, eye-catching colors. With six variants and two sizes, the Kyoto-inspired versions are limited editions. And the Pasticcino will continue to travel: Next year’s tour stop is already chosen, Maramotti teases. She won’t reveal more, but promises that “it’s super.” You’ll just have to wait to see what it is.
A version of this story appears in the September 2024 issue of ELLE.
Kathleen Hou is ELLE”s Beauty Director. Previously, she held the same title at New York Magazine’s The Cut. She’s appeared in publications such as New York, The New York Times Magazine, Vogue India, Forbes, and Allure. She was also a co-founder of Donate Beauty, a grassroots beauty donation project started during the COVID-19 crisis, which donated over 500,000 products to over 30,000 healthcare workers across 500+ hospitals.