Culture needs disruptors. Fashion too. In 1995 Todd Solondz shook up independent film with Welcome to the Dollhouse, Coolio hit the top of the charts with “Gangsta’s Paradise,” and eBay changed the internet forever. Minimalism, meanwhile, ruled the runway. “Fussy,” the late stylist Polly Mellen declared in that year’s soon to be canonic documentary, Unzipped. “Finished.” It was a time of little ornamentation, clean lines, neutral palettes. Quiet luxury, long before the phrase was coined.
Into the fray strode a master practitioner with a statement of his own: Giorgio Armani had a brand new bag. He called it, audaciously, La Prima. There had been purses before, but this was his first major foray into leather goods, and he was determined to infuse La Prima with the languorous precision of his tailoring. Thirty years later La Prima is back, enhanced with new materials and advances in craftsmanship. The design takes inspiration from the OG, and it’s even available in colors that wouldn’t have been out of place in the ’90s: ice, nude, black. There are also more decadent versions for evening—lacquer, silk, satin, and the elaphe seen here—that recall another 1995 rebel: Ginger McKenna from Casino, by Armani’s frequent collaborator Martin Scorsese.
Giorgio Armani La Prima water snake handbag ($2,795)
The sotto voce logo is in keeping with the Giorgio Armani ethos of letting form and function do the talking. Good design doesn’t have to speak too loudly to stand out.
The turquoise strap’s double slide encourages the wearer to choose the style: handheld tote, cross-body, or off the shoulder!
The three-hour process by which elaphe skin is shaped into cloth requires precision in assembly and stitching.
This story appears in the March 2025 issue of Town & Country. SUBSCRIBE NOW
Erik Maza is the Executive Style Director at Town & Country, overseeing print, digital and social coverage of fashion, architecture/design and the intersection of money, power and scandal. Before T&C, he led W’s editorial voice across digital platforms, including the relaunch of the trademark “In & Out” List as a weekly newsletter. Earlier, he edited Women’s Wear Daily’s the Eye®, a news/features vertical covering culture and style. He was also WWD’s media columnist, reporting a daily column, Memo Pad, that consistently broke news about the media industry in a highly competitive beat. He began his career working as a reporter at the Miami New Times and later at the Baltimore Sun. He was born and raised in Cuba, and lives in New York City. He can be found on X and Instagram @erikmaza.
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