Bella Hadid Campaigns for Saint Laurent Mombasa Bag Return by Glen Luchford

The Mombasa, a bag created by Tom Ford for Yves Saint Laurent in 2002, is reintroduced by today’s Saint Laurent [IG] creative director Anthony Vaccarello with a new campaign headlined by Bella Hadid. Photographer /director Glen Luchford [IG] captures details of the bag, including the leather handle, which was made of deer horn in the original Mombasa. Hand-carved, no two handles were alike.

The 2026 Saint Laurent [IG] Mombasa comes in three sizes and three materials: Courchevel leather, vintage calfskin, and pony leather. The color palette includes rich, earthy tones like rouge cabernet, santal, dark oat, and classic black.

With his Mombasa filled with seemingly unlimited talents — including his absolute adoration of a range of women — Tom Ford launched a PR campaign to remember. 50 New York City editors — as well as Gwyneth Paltrow — received a Mombasa.

According to Cathy Horyn, writing for the New York Times in June 2002, the Mombasa hit stores, sold out, manifested a waiting list, and helped YSL sell $90 million dollars of accessories, representing 26 percent of total Saint Laurent sales.

As always Horyn popped a balloon or two about the demand — and a city of competitive fashion editors not wanting to look like Tom Ford’s personal PR machine. But the fashion critic didn’t challenge the financial impact of the Mombasa on the Saint Laurent business.

The Mombasa wasn’t Ford’s only hit. At Gucci, in 1999, the designer re-introduced the Jackie bag at Gucci and sold more than a million of them. But the Mombasa was his first hit at Saint Laurent, which had no accessories fashion business when Gucci acquired the brand.

It will be interesting to see if changes in the handle will have any negative impact on design.