The Savette Soft Symmetry bag launches on 18 August, and if you have been watching the Symmetry family quietly colonise the handbag conversation for the past few years, this one is the version that finally makes room for your actual life.
Founder Amy Zurek describes the new style as ‘a softer, more relaxed expression that we’ve established across the brand.’ The original Symmetry and its iterations, including the Slim Symmetry Pochette and the Symmetry Trapeze, are defined by clean geometry and precise proportions. With the Soft Symmetry, Zurek says she was ‘interested in loosening the structure, while maintaining the clarity of the design.’ That is the brief in one sentence: same visual language, less architectural rigidity.
What the Savette Soft Symmetry Bag Actually Offers
The bag is built around two spacious main compartments and a zippered central one. Zurek is direct about the intention: ‘It’s really easy to find your belongings and organize them. But it’s not constricting in any way, which sometimes happens with pockets. It’s a real bag for a real woman.’
There is a detail worth pausing on: the free-hanging straps are actually the tails of the zipper. ‘It’s a subtle detail that gives this sense of being a little bit undone,’ Zurek explains. ‘The informality of it changes the character of the bag. Otherwise, it’s quite ladylike with the top-handle.’ It is the kind of considered quirk that keeps a structured bag from reading as stiff.
The Soft Symmetry comes in two leathers. Smooth calf leather pairs with a gleaming gold lock closure; a vintage leather option arrives with matte silver hardware for a deliberately patinaed, slouchy look. Both are available in black, cognac, and coffee brown, all priced at $2,290.
For context on where this sits in the Symmetry range: the family spans from $1,390 for the Symmetry Pochette up to $13,000 for a crocodile version, according to Savette’s Symmetry collection page. The Soft Symmetry slots in at the fuller-size, mid-tier end of that spectrum.
The Brand Behind It: A Quick Recap Worth Having
Savette was founded in 2020, per the brand’s official About page, which gives the year as 2020 rather than 2021 as sometimes cited. The launch came at the height of pandemic lockdowns, and Zurek unveiled the inaugural collection, which included the original Symmetry Pochette, Symmetry 19, and Tondo 22, over Zoom. According to Forbes, digital launch events of that kind were essentially unheard of in the industry at the time. It took Zurek a year to finalise the collection.
Before starting Savette, Zurek designed bags for The Row and Khaite, per an interview with Hurs. That pedigree shows up in the restraint: the brand is logoless, finished with signature metal hardware rather than branding, and each bag is made by hand outside Florence using traditional leather craft techniques.
The brand name itself is derived from Zurek’s mother’s maiden name, and the animating idea, as Savette’s About page puts it, is the concept of a bag passed down through generations: ‘a rare modern heirloom.’ That framing is either genuinely lovely or very good marketing, possibly both.
In September 2024, Savette debuted the Florence collection during New York Fashion Week, which Forbes described as ‘a new visual language’ while still working within the brand’s signature codes. The Soft Symmetry, in that context, reads as the next move in the same ongoing conversation rather than a hard pivot.
Zurek’s own articulation of what longevity means for a bag brand is worth quoting directly: ‘I think longevity comes from creating something that feels distinctive without being overly tied to a particular moment. The proportions of the bag are really considered, and the design is quite restrained, but it still has a strong visual identity.’ Whether the Soft Symmetry earns that longevity is a question only time and a few years of daily use can answer. For now, the early-access window opens today, with the full public launch on Savette’s website on 18 August, with complimentary worldwide shipping included.
