The Saint Laurent Mombasa is the Latest Noughties It-Bag Making a Comeback

Much to the chagrin of some industry insiders, fashion’s ongoing love affair with the Noughties (and all the questionable trends that came with it) shows no signs of fading. Ballerinas are officially back, UGGs are ubiquitous, low-slung jeans are on the rise, and the hottest bags of the moment are largely plucked from the archives—although the latter is one trend everyone is happy to get behind.

The past year alone has seen the triumphant return of iconic, nostalgia-inducing styles such as the Chloé Paddington, Celine Phantom, Balenciaga City and Mulberry Roxanne—and now, the Saint Laurent Mombasa is joining their ranks, too.

First introduced in 2002 under Tom Ford, the slouchy, sculptural leather bag is synonymous with insouciant early-Aughts glamour, and was regularly spotted on the arms of Kate Moss, Mary-Kate Olsen, Sienna Miller, and Angelina Jolie back in the day. So, really, it was only a matter of time before it was due a second stint in the spotlight—one that has finally arrived courtesy of Anthony Vaccarello’s Spring 2026 campaign, which places Bella Hadid and the bag firmly front and centre.

"The Mombasa reissue didn’t surprise me at all, it felt inevitable," says Gabriel Rylka, founder of luxury vintage platform Break.Archive. "Long before Saint Laurent announced it, we’d already seen organic demand building for original YSL Mombasa bags from the Tom Ford era. For years they were relatively affordable on the resale market, then almost overnight prices jumped as early-2000s silhouettes came back into focus."

Cleverly capitalising on the ever-growing obsession with all things Y2K—not to mention society's unquenchable thirst for nostalgia—Vaccarello kicked off 2026 by reissuing the Mombasa for a whole new audience. The Saint Laurent Mombasa 2.0 is "faithful to the original while subtly reinterpreted", according to the brand's press release, now coming in three sizes and "conceived for everyday ease". The iconic real-horn handle, for example, is gone, replaced instead with a more modern, leather-wrapped iteration; the signature slouch remains but is ever-so-slightly more structured, and fabrications are more polished than boho.

Naturally, Saint Laurent ambassadors and longtime fans have been quick to embrace the Mombasa in their wardrobes once again. In just two weeks since its official re-release, the refreshed style has already been spotted on the likes of BLACKPINK's Rosé, Song Jia, Anja Rubik, Hannah Strafford-Taylor, Kiko Mizuhara and an off-duty Bella Hadid—signalling that the Mombasa is well on its way to becoming a major must-have of 2026.

And while celebrity endorsement has helped cement the reissue’s It-bag status, its impact has been felt just as strongly—if not more so—in the vintage and resale market. "Since the reissue, demand for the originals has only increased," explains Rylka. "When a brand re-releases an archival design at a much higher retail price, it often validates the vintage version rather than replacing it. Collectors and younger consumers still gravitate towards the originals—they feel more authentic to the moment they came from, less polished, and more culturally loaded. In many cases, the original will always be the more desirable piece."

The result is a rare scenario in which past and present coexist, each reinforcing the other’s cultural and commercial relevance. A reminder that the best fashion icons don’t simply return—they accrue meaning, and value, over time.

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