When Alessandro Michele took over at Valentino, it was clear the house was headed somewhere more visceral. Enter the Valentino Garavani DeVain, the newest addition to the Vain family and a bag that feels made for someone with 52 exhibitions on her calendar: compact so that she can get through the day without having a sore shoulder, and stylish enough to work for everything from show openings to afterparties.
The DeVain’s pochette shape leans into a very ’90s ease, but it’s the sheer range of 27 different iterations that sets it apart. Metallic nappa, worn-in denim, crochet raffia, bejewelled fur; pick your poison. Some feel understated, others unapologetically loud; the point is choice. Prefer romantic Expressionism or more irreverent pop-art chaos? There’s an option regardless of your preferred aesthetics, plus you can further customise the bag with a personalised leather tag.
Further flexing its art cred, nine international artists like Thomas Albdorf, Enter The Void, Paul Octavious, Albert Planella, Tina Tona were invited by Valentino to interpret the DeVain into original digital artworks, turning it into a small, portable exhibition in its own right.
And while Singapore Art Week may be winding down, the art calendar never stops. Consider this a tongue-in-cheek guide to what else the city has to offer, according to your DeVain personality.
Valentino Garavani DeVain embroidered linen shoulder bag
Your personality: The romantic who isn’t just trying a new hobby, but is genuinely deep-diving into textile conservation or learning about the history of stitching techniques.
You like… Pieces with a clear provenance and evidence of the human hand. You collect objects that serve as a visual love letter to the beauty of 19th-century Romanticism.
Your art hang: The Peranakan Museum, specifically the beadwork section where you liked to spend hours sketching out your favourite pieces.
Your Valentino Garavani DeVain: The beading on this beauty ($5,440) is giving heirloom, the silhouette is giving now. It’s nostalgic but not dusty, cute but not trying too hard. The kind of bag that says you romanticise your life and secretly think you’re the heroine of a Wong Kar Wai film.
Valentino Garavani DeVain moire fabric shoulder bag
Your personality: The soft-spoken, but brainy eco-poet
You like: Material-led art, organic forms, slow exhibitions — and plants.
Your art hang: Insects: Microsculptures Imagined at the ArtScience Museum. You’re there to marvel at the hyper-magnified textures of Levon Biss’s portraits of natural flora and fauna, where a beetle’s wing becomes a two-meter-tall study in iridescent biological architecture.
Your Valentino Garavani DeVain: A wearable herbarium for the girl who reads Ocean Vuong in the park. This bag ($3,100) is a low-key flex for the high-IQ romantic; just big enough for your film rolls, a spare battery, and a dog-eared copy of Night Sky with Exit Wounds.
Valentino Garavani DeVain nappa leather shoulder bag
Your personality: You like frosted pink lips, Y2K pop videos, and the specific gloss of 1999.
You like: The digital melancholy of ’90s/Y2K cinema, hyper-pop, and things that look like they belong in a futuristic time capsule.
Your art hang: Oldham Theatre for a screening at the Asian Film Archive, the go-to for 4K restorations of Y2K-era classics such as Shunji Iwai’s All About Lily Chou-Chou or Edward Yang’s Yi Yi that let you soak in all that grainy, digital melancholy while looking nonchalantly louche.
Your Valentino Garavani DeVain: The icy liquid-metal finish on this number ($3,620) is giving us major cyber-futurism vibes that dominated the turn of the millennium era; perfect for the Y2K-heads out there.
Valentino Garavani DeVain cloque jacquard fabric shoulder bag
Your personality: The earthy alchemist who likes a touch of glamour
You like: Hand-thrown ceramics, raw textures, kintsugi, and exhibitions that amplify the physical labor of the hand.
Your art hang: Mulan Gallery on Armenian Street. You’re likely there for a solo show by leading contemporary ceramicists, obsessing over the “blistered” glazes and the tension between the fragile material and bold, sculptural forms.
Your Valentino Garavani DeVain: For the textures-obsessed collector, might we suggest this cloque jacquard fabric iteration ($3,100)? This fabric is a masterclass in dimension; the raised, “puffed” effect of the jacquard mimics the organic surface of experimental stoneware, making the bag feel like a soft, metallic sculpture that has been fired to perfection.
Valentino Garavani DeVain embroidered calfskin shoulder bag
Your personality: The girl everyone texts to get into the invite-only preview of the hottest exhibition in town.
You like: 35mm film shots of messy dinner tables that leaves everyone wondering where you were last night
Your art hang: Taking in Tokonoma’s latest cultural experiments, then a butoh performance, followed by a session at Senang Supper Club – the dinner series by the progressive botanical design studio This Humid House. Oh, just all part of your regular day.
Your Valentino Garavani DeVain: The cross-stitched cherries on this bag ($6,400) are so cute it’s almost illegal, and the beaded base gives just enough sparkle to let people know you aren’t actually at your grandma’s house. It’s the ultimate conversation-starter for someone who’s already the center of the room.
Valentino Garavani DeVain nappa leather shoulder bag
Your personality: The art world insider who’s constantly on the go
You like: Heavy coffee, light travel, and knowing exactly how long the car ride from Tanjong Pagar Distripark to The Private Museum will take.
Your art hang: The VIP lounges of whichever major fair is currently holding court for the day, or touring a collector’s private trove of masterpieces.
Your Valentino Garavani DeVain: This is the ultimate “I have places to be” bag ($3,460). It’s sleek, goes with everything, and it says: “I’m here for the art, I’m here for the business, and I’m definitely staying for the after-party.”
Valentino Garavani DeVain embroidered calfskin shoulder bag
Your personality: The history-obsessed researcher
You like: Mythological storytelling, decolonial perspectives, the texture of weathered parchment, and art that feels like a sacred offering.
Your art hang: Women Who Carry the Mountain by Citra Sasmita at Yeo Workshop, Gillman Barracks. You would likely be enamoured by the feted Indonesian artist’s suspended cowhides, admiring the intricate paintings of female figures sprouting fire and trees, and obsessing over how she turns traditional Balinese cosmology into a powerful statement on womanhood.
Your Valentino Garavani DeVain: Perhaps not unlike Sasmita’s work, this surface of this edition ($7,100) is a canvas for complex, symbolic beauty with dense embroidery that makes it feel like a modern artifact of hidden histories.
Valentino Garavani DeVain nappa leather shoulder bag
Your personality: The social butterfly who somehow knows the curator of every show in the city.
You like: Grand openings, sharp tailoring paired with statement jewelry, vintage champagne, and art that makes a bold, singular statement.
Your art hang: You’re most often found at galas held at the likes of The National Gallery Singapore to raise funds, so that such institutions can continue their applaud-worthy work of making good art accessible to all.
Your Valentino Garavani DeVain: This iteration with a soft gold sheen ($3,620) is perfectly attuned to being eye-catching without being garish.
Valentino Garavani DeVain embroidered calfskin shoulder bag
Your personality: The bibliophile who’s into rare books and goth culture
You like: You’re into the dramatic shadows of Chiaroscuro, the art technique that uses high-contrast light to create a sense of mystery. You have a deep appreciation for antique botanical illustrations, velvet-bound journals, and the tactile beauty of woodblock-printed paper.
Your art hang: The Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum. You’re likely found in the Heritage Gallery, where rows of vintage specimen jars look like a hauntingly beautiful art installation. To you, the museum is a giant cabinet of curiosities, a place where the history of nature is curated into something cinematic and larger-than-life.
Your Valentino Garavani DeVain: This particular design ($7,100) goes for ornate floral embroidery and beadwork set against a moody black canvas, much like a vintage tapestry or a still-life from a Dutch masterpiece.