Louis Vuitton reentered the novelty bag space with the release of its Lifebuoy bag.
Designed with the French luxury fashion house‘s signature craft, the bag was teased by guests at the Louis Vuitton men’s spring 2026 show in Paris in June. Featuring its iconic logo on the leather canvas material, the bag is now listed on the brand’s website as “Notify Me” with a retail price of $10,000.
A guest wears a dark brown Louis Vuitton lifebuoy canvas bag.
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Despite the unique circular design, the bag is functional, featuring three separate zipped compartments and an adjustable leather strap for shoulder or cross-body carry. The accessory is already catching the attention of social media.
This is not the first time the French house has had a novelty purse making waves online. In 2021, Louis Vuitton debuted a viral airplane bag, created by the late Virgil Abloh, which retailed for roughly $39,000. Other entries into the brand’s novelty bag list include the LV Fan bag, from the spring 2025 runway, the LV Monogram LV Paint Can Bag and the LV x Yayoi Kusama Pumpkin Shoulder Bag.
Louis Vuitton’s Lifebuoy bag.
Louis Vuitton
Over the course of the last several seasons, luxury brands have released a selection of novelty bags that stand out for their playful and unconventional designs. Notable examples include Moschino’s Teddy Bear purse, Balenciaga’s trash bag and Loewe’s tomato clutch.
“There’s been always a pendulum on what rises and falls and swings and sways,” said Susan Korn, designer of accessories label Susan Alexandra, about the trend in an interview with WWD in August 2024. “In the past couple of years we’ve seen there’s been this return to a very serious suit dressing — like neutral suit dressing, the vest as a shirt and the return to the traditional black bag. On the other end of the spectrum, you have a really fun, ridiculous, outrageous, not so serious bag. When you go too far in one direction, you always want to go to the other.”
A guest holds the Louis Vuitton Lifebuoy bag.
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Prior to the 2024 resurgence of novelty bags, signs of the trend’s rise were evident in 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In February 2020, novelty handbags were spotted at the Fame and Moda trade shows in New York City. Heather London, a sales rep for Mary Frances Accessories, noted how the trend was making a comeback at the time.
“You’re seeing it on the runway; you’re seeing it with the major designers,” London told WWD in February 2020. “It trickles down and it just keeps getting more and more popular.”
