Alo’s Got a Brand-New Bag! Amelia Gray Hamlin, Candice Swanepoel, and Adut Akech Celebrate the Launch

There’s an undeniable mystique to anything touched by a small cadre of revered fashion figures—those truly deserving of the term ‘legend.’ There’s the legendary photographer Steven Meisel, the legendary makeup artist Pat McGrath, the legendary stylist Carlyne Cerf de Dudzeele, the legendary hairstylist Guido Palau, and legendary supermodel Candice Swanepoel. Independently, they make beautiful work that stands the test of time, but together they have a collective power to create the sort of splashy moment for a brand that ushers in a new era.

Such was the case last night, when the work of all five was revealed in the form of a new advertising campaign for Alo, debuting a range of luxury bags simply dubbed The Bag Collection. Retailing between $1,200 and $3,600, the four bags—the Voyage Duffle, Tranquility Tote, Odyssey Bowler, and Balance Bucket—are a striking about-face from the core collection of Alo activewear known to the masses. This was made all the more clear when partygoers sporting the bags paired them not with stretch leggings and sneakers, but with minidresses and heels. Clearly, these bags weren’t meant to live strictly in the gym.

“Our bags are another step in creating our wellness ecosystem,” Alo’s Executive Vice President of Marketing and Creative, Summer Nacewicz, explained. “Every product we make should reflect health, intention, and innovation, so when we started looking at this category, we wanted to make sure we were creating something with the same craftsmanship and premium materials as the bags from the heritage houses our customers were already carrying, just with a bit more versatility and wellness in mind. So these are designed to fit seamlessly into that on-the-go, wellness-driven lifestyle our customer lives.”

And rather than a bedazzled Labubu, the bags also come accessorized with a significantly more elevated charm known as an “Alo Intention Crystal,” meant to provide a myriad of energy-based benefits. “I am very much a crystal girly, a little too much, I think,” Candice Swanepoel told us with a laugh. “Even my sons are into it. There’s a full blood moon now, my crystals were bathing in the light, getting energized. I have my energy-protecting ones in my bag, and I traveled here with the duffel, and people were like, ‘Oh, that’s a nice bag.’ I’m like, ‘Just you wait.’”

Nods to the crystals could be found at the bar too, where cocktails like the “Smoky Quartz Margarita” and the “Citrine Tini” were served up, but the crowd favorite was clearly a play on the espresso martini, the “Charged Quartz,” which could be seen in many hands while tuxedoed staff dashed around the room, toting silver trays of sweet potato fries and caviar aioli.

Another wing of the Chelsea arts space was transformed into a gallery, with The Bag Collection housed behind glass vitrines and larger-than-life campaign imagery by Meisel adorning the walls and starring Swanepoel alongside Amelia Gray Hamlin and Daiane Sodre—all represented by The Lions Management.” “These are all the most major people in fashion from every single decade on set in the same room as you, and the pressure is on—you have to deliver,” Amelia Gray Hamlin recalled as we stood in the gallery. “It was just so nuts. I used to do this thing where I practiced in the mirror, to kind of understand and manifest. I always had this pose I did and this look in my eye that I would always practice if I had the chance to work with Steven [Meisel], and the day we shot this Alo campaign, they told me to do that exact pose, so it was a full-circle moment.”

Mark Ronson then took over the music, prompting a rush to the dance floor as he kicked off his DJ set with Lil’ Kim’s 2003 hit “The Jump Off,” surely known by the many fitness fanatics in the room who tonight would be burning off their Charged Quartz cocktails and caviar confections with the best workout of all: shimmying and twirling and dancing the night away.