FLOAT 100 · Handbags · No. 87
Loewe Flamenco Mini Knot Clutch
A soft leather pouch from Madrid that pulls shut like the swirl of a dancer's skirt has survived three creative directors, and the two oversized knots Jonathan Anderson gave it in 2015 made it one of the most recognizable bags Loewe sells.
- Year
- current
- Maker
- Loewe
- By price in handbags
- 81 of 100
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Create a free account- Maker
- Loewe, Madrid, founded 1846
- Model
- Mini Flamenco clutch in nappa calfskin, the smallest of four sizes
- Size
- 23.9 x 18 x 9 cm (9.4 x 7.1 x 3.5 in), about 0.3 kg
- Closure
- Cinched drawstring with a knot at each end, plus a discreet magnetic closure
- Carry
- Shoulder, crossbody or hand, on a detachable and adjustable strap
- Made in
- Spain; Loewe says twelve artisans in its Madrid atelier craft the Flamenco
- First designed
- The 1970s by most accounts; one account says the 1980s
- Knots
- Made the bag's signature under Jonathan Anderson, who redesigned it in 2015
- Retail
- $2,600 at Loewe in the U.S. for solid nappa colors, October 2026
A bag named for a skirt
The Flamenco takes its name from what happens when it closes. Pull the drawstrings on either side and the soft leather gathers into folds, an effect its makers compare to the flare of a flamenco dancer's skirt. Loewe's own description today is plain: a soft and slouchy bag with a cinched closure and 'historical knot drawstrings.'
Most accounts place the bag's birth in the 1970s, a busy decade for the house. It opened with the creation of the Loewe Anagram, four intertwined Ls drawn by the Spanish artist Vicente Vela, and also produced the Amazona, launched in 1975. One account dates the Flamenco to the 1980s instead; the record is not settled.
The bag then went quiet for decades. Stuart Vevers, Loewe's creative director from 2008 to 2013, brought it back from the archives in 2010, and his version was known for tassels at the ends of the drawstrings. It quickly became a cult favorite.
The house and the designer who tied the knot
Loewe was founded in Madrid in 1846 by Spanish leather artisans. In 1872 Enrique Loewe y Roessberg, a merchant of Hessian origin, consolidated the business under his name, and in 1905 King Alfonso XIII named the house a royal supplier. LVMH took over international distribution in 1986 and became sole owner in February 1996.
Jonathan Anderson, the Northern Irish designer behind JW Anderson, became creative director in September 2013, the same month LVMH bought a minority stake in his own label. In 2015, the year he also introduced the Puzzle bag, he redesigned the Flamenco. Where Vevers's version was known for its tassels, Anderson's is defined by a leather knot at each end of the drawstring, the detail that now identifies the bag at a glance.
Anderson left Loewe on March 17, 2025, and moved to Dior. Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, who succeeded him, kept the Flamenco and its knots; their first Loewe collection, for spring 2026, introduced a Layered Flamenco clutch built from multicolored leather layers.
How to recognize a Mini Flamenco
The current Mini Flamenco in nappa calfskin measures 23.9 cm wide, 18 cm high and 9 cm deep, weighs about 0.3 kg, and is made in Spain. Its strap is detachable and adjustable from 96 to 120 cm, with a drop of 36 to 49 cm. Inside there is a suede lining, a discreet magnetic closure and an embossed Anagram. Recent colorways come with palladium or gold-tone metal depending on the color.
The leather panels are cut so that no raw edges show, which gives the gathered body its clean look. Loewe says the bag is made by twelve artisans at its Madrid atelier. The family runs from the mini through the medium (30 x 24.5 x 10.5 cm) and large (38 x 29 x 14 cm) to an XL (44.7 x 34.5 x 21.5 cm), so a buyer checking a listing should confirm the measurements as well as the name.
The Flamenco has also grown branches. In February 2024 Loewe released the Flamenco Purse in nappa lambskin, adding a leather-woven donut chain and an engraved Anagram Pebble borrowed from the Squeeze bag. Other variants include the Mini Coil Flamenco and versions in check intarsia leather, priced above the plain nappa mini.
Prices and the market
In October 2026 Loewe's U.S. site listed the Mini Flamenco clutch in nappa calfskin at $2,600 in each of its solid colors, including Chocolate, Dark Burgundy and Abyss Blue. Special versions cost more: a mini in nappa and check intarsia was $4,450, and a Mini Coil Flamenco was $3,900. The Layered Flamenco mini introduced for fall 2026 retailed for $2,990, and the medium Flamenco Purse launched in 2024 at $3,550.
The Natural, or tan, colorway described in this entry was not among the colors on Loewe's U.S. site when checked, so a buyer looking for it today is shopping at other retailers or on the secondhand market.
Why it endures
Under Anderson, Loewe became one of the most closely watched houses in fashion, built on cult designs such as the Puzzle, the Hammock and the Gate. The Flamenco played a different role: an understated staple that sat alongside them and tied the house's present to its archive. Reviewers single out its leather, thick yet malleable and soft to the touch.
The year Vevers revived the bag, 2010, was also the year UNESCO declared flamenco itself one of its Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible cultural legacy of humanity. A bag named for a Spanish art form, made in Madrid by a house that once supplied the Spanish crown, has outlasted three creative directors and remains one of Loewe's signatures.
The numbers
- Dimensions
- 23.9 x 18 x 9 cm (9.4 x 7.1 x 3.5 in)
- Weight
- About 0.3 kg
- Material
- Nappa calfskin with suede lining
- Hardware
- Palladium or gold-tone, depending on colorway; magnetic closure; embossed Anagram
- Strap
- Detachable, adjustable 96-120 cm, drop 36-49 cm
- Model ID
- A411FC2X73 or A411FC2XA6, depending on colorway
- Production quantity
- Not published; a current-production model
Timeline
Leather artisans found the business in Madrid that becomes Loewe.
Enrique Loewe y Roessberg consolidates the business under his name.
King Alfonso XIII names Loewe a royal supplier.
Loewe launches the Amazona bag.
LVMH becomes sole owner of Loewe.
Stuart Vevers revives the Flamenco from the archives, with tassels on the drawstrings.
Jonathan Anderson becomes Loewe's creative director.
Anderson redesigns the Flamenco around two oversized leather knots.
Loewe releases the Flamenco Purse, with a woven leather donut chain.
Anderson leaves Loewe; Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez follow him.
The Layered Flamenco clutch from the spring 2026 runway returns for fall in mini and medium.
The world in 1975
Francisco Franco dies, opening Spain's transition to democracy.
Juan Carlos I is proclaimed King of Spain.
Spain holds its first free elections in four decades.
Spaniards approve a new constitution by referendum.
Spain joins NATO.
UNESCO declares flamenco one of humanity's oral and intangible masterpieces.
Price record
| Date | Price | Kind |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 3, 2026 | $2,600 | Asking price, not a saleLoewe U.S. retail price for the Mini Flamenco clutch in nappa calfskin, shown in Abyss Blue, Chocolate and Dark Burgundy; the Natural colorway was not listed. |
This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.
By reference price, Loewe Flamenco Mini Knot Clutch is number 81 of 100 in the handbags entries of the FLOAT 100. 19 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (87 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.
Did you know
- Stuart Vevers's 2010 Flamenco had tassels; the knots arrived only in 2015.
- Loewe says twelve artisans at its Madrid atelier work on the Flamenco.
- The Loewe Anagram of four intertwined Ls was designed by the Spanish artist Vicente Vela.
- Loewe was a royal supplier to the Spanish court from 1905.
- The Flamenco was revived the same year UNESCO honored flamenco itself as a masterpiece of intangible culture.
- The largest Flamenco, the XL, is almost twice as wide as the mini.
How this page is made
- The figure
- One reference price, shown with its own kind. FLOAT does not average it with anything or adjust it for time.
- Realized or not
- A realized price is a completed sale. An asking price, an estimate and a price-guide value are not sales, and are labeled as such wherever they appear.
- The story
- Researched from published records and checked fact by fact. Updated Oct 3, 2026.
- Archive
- Oct 5, 2026