Bottega Veneta’s Knot Minaudiere truly looks like something you’d find in the kitchen cupboard

Whose mee looks better? Left, Bottega Veneta Knot Minaudiere. Photo: Bottega Veneta. And right, regular dried egg noodles. Photo: Gan Mi Ann

One hit is far from enough. Bottega Veneta has had incredible success with their Cassette shoulder bag, the one with an exterior featuring the house Intreccio weave, but blown up many, many times. The bag, of course, looks less like a cassette than an oblong ketupat (Malay dumpling). But not content with one triumph and the surface treatment that recalls Asian foods, they offer another, possibly with the hope that this would be a winner too This time, the also-rectangular bag appears to be inspired by another food item—an Asian pantry staple: dried egg noodles! Yes, those that you might use to make wan ton mee if you do not have the fresh jidanmian (鸡蛋面) on hand. Or, are we seeing what is not there? Hunger-pangs-induced hallucination?

The new BV model is dubbed the Knot Minaudiere (French for a petit decorative bag, mostly without strap or handle). On both the front and back are these little loops (‘crocheted’, according to the brand) that, in the very arrangement, truly look like the curly strands of egg noodles in dried form. The shape and the flatness are similar too. We have no idea what really lured Bottega Veneta to come up with a bag that appears to want to be cooked, except that perhaps they thought this would be charming to Asian consumers, the noodle lovers that we are. Both bag and mee are, interestingly, made of natural materials; one in lambskin and the other wheat floor and egg. Beehoon next on the luxury menu?

Bottega Veneta Knot Minaudiere, SGD6,400, is available at Bottega Veneta stores. Dried egg noodles, SGD1.50, are available at any supermarket