Save this story Save Story Save this story It’s hard to believe that 25 years have passed since Balenciaga ’s Le City bag arrived on the scene—the design riffing on a motorcycle jacket, the sans-logo attitude unapologetically cool. A quarter-century is long enough that some see the bag mostly with nostalgia while others are discovering its It-status for the first time.
Certainly, in the midst of the mythic maison’s creative director shakeup—the departure of Pierpaolo Piccioli, the appointment of Martine Rose —Le City remains an enduring constant, riding out every era from its creation by Nicolas Ghesquière through Alexander Wang and Demna, who proposed his own version, the Neo City, in 2020.
Starting tomorrow, Balenciaga is kicking off Le City’s anniversary with celebratory activations in several cities around the world. Le City House will bow in its Paris hometown for nine days, with New York, Tokyo, Shanghai, Beijing, and Seoul staggered through the end of the year. The spaces also exist to launch a major collaboration involving the artist provocateur Damien Hirst. Folks, get ready for DAMIENCIAGA, a limited edition Le City capsule that transposes some of his famous works to the characteristic Arena leather.
Arrow A few days prior to the reveal, I made a site visit to the historic address of 10, Avenue George V, where Cristobal established his atelier and where customers more recently could purchase Demna’s Couture. Le City House is altogether different: a multi-modal, Y2K-coded experience that is sleek yet visitor-friendly and daresay playful.
Upon entering, a prototype of Le City from 2001—compact and in brown cotton canvas—sits in a see-through cube atop a Parisian bench painted glossy blue. There’s a floor-to-ceiling display of Le City as eye candy: bags in vivid shades of Maldives Green and Ultra Violet; in surface treatments such as tweed panels and brogue trims; and in novelty one-offs (including Ghesquière’s Multicolor City Mondriaan in red, yellow, and blue). Nearby are the “closets” that boast bags belonging to celebrity collectors such as Nicole Ritchie, the French footballer Hugo Ekitike, Clémence Poésy and Isabelle Huppert (each Le City House will feature different boldface names) propped with daily items and old Blackberry devices that double as labels (Ritchie’s, for instance, is from 2005). Small screens flash Parisian landmarks while a full-length panel rotates editorial, street style, and paparazzi photos. For all the glimpses of Kate Moss, Chloe Sevigny, Mary-Kate Olsen, and Sienna Miller, Le City is clearly the star.
Arrow Further back, past a metal railing bedecked with padlocks is the room with Hirst’s creations. The most rarefied, done by hand, is doused in splashes of pigment like his Spin Paintings and exists as an edition of 20. The others—his multicolored spots arranged like a butterfly; his mandala of wings; his uniform grid of dots; and a compilation of his ideas as embroidered patches—will be more widely available.
The second space, dubbed “Le Salon,” functions like a leather workshop-turned-bag spa. Artisans stationed on Platner stools will be personalizing bags: replacing the lacing along the top handle, offering custom charms, and hand-painting or etching initials on the rectangular pocket mirror that has remained one of Le City’s defining details. People can also make an appointment to have their old bags assessed for extra refresh services.
Finally, there is a photo kiosk programmed as though straight out of a teen magazine quiz circa the 1990s, only that the theme is not crushes or careers, but which Le City is right for you. One result might yield Le City Moto (“Bold, confident and a little rebellious”); another Le City Mini Backpack (“Your match understands that you have your hands full”). Alas, you do not actually receive a free bag.
If Le City House represents a fun, public-facing commemoration of Balenciaga’s best-selling bag, the maison’s vast archive on the outskirts of Paris offers the contextual perspective. This is where, thanks to a tour provided by Heritage and Cultural Director, Gaspard de Massé, I found myself learning about how the Le City—eschewing conspicuous branding but rather adorned with a sexy mix of laces, buckles, and studs—almost never came to be.
Nicolas Ghesquière with the Balenciaga city bag in 2004. Photographed by Robert Fairer, Vogue , September 2004
As the lore goes and he recounts, Ghesquière was working on a motorcycle-inspired bag in 2000 when Moss saw a version and showed interest in it. He gave her one and offered others to his inner circle—women like Marie-Amélie Sauvé, Carine Roitfeld, and Emmanuelle Alt—initially calling it Le Lariat, then Le Motorcycle. Le First and Le City followed based on their sizes, until eventually, the latter stuck for the entire family.
The 3,000-square-meter temperature- and humidity-controlled space is filled not only with the kind of heaving mobile shelving units found in institutional archives, but also the storage of patrimonial furniture, Cristobal’s actual library, and two stunning paintings positioned upright (one is by Bernard Buffet of his wife, Annabel, wearing a pink Balenciaga gown; the other, surprisingly, is of Gabrielle Chanel in a soigné white ensemble by A.M. Cassandre).
Of course, we end up over at the units stacked with Le City models, never carried and originating from the workshops. You need not be prone to It-bag lust to marvel over the sheer number and variety—some 879 at last count. Dream of a shade and it’s probably in the mix. There are evolutions and iterations: the burnished studs that morphed to resemble thimbles; the brogue trims that evoked Derby shoes; the metal hardware; the Part Time with its seam down the middle or the square Velo format (presumably to fit inside a bicycle basket).
So how, in De Massé’s mind, has Le City remained such a hero piece? “I think it’s extremely identifiable, and because of that, it doesn’t really feel like taking a risk,” he says. “You know that you’re buying this particular bag for a specific reason; and undoubtedly, part of that reason is that you’re joining all those other people who already own one. There’s something of a community spirit around it; it’s not an exclusively ultra-luxury community, nor is it mass market. It occupies this interesting space somewhere in between.”
He goes on: “For today’s generations, it can also function as a kind of madeleine de Proust , something that evokes a particular moment or memory. I remember Britney Spears in the 2000s, for example. Even if I didn’t personally experience that period in the same way, those images are part of my imagination, and the bag allows me to reconnect with an aesthetic or a moment that I liked. There’s something reassuring about that. Of course, it’s different for everyone; but I think that recognizability, combined with the fact that the bag feels approachable and accessible, is fundamental to its success.”
Arrow Indeed, few bags have had such staying power independent of the promotion machine, off-duty model shot, or hype cycle. But Le City is a bag that also happens to wear well. The non-boxy shape proved easy to carry and the Arena leather already appeared lived-in, becoming more cherished as it was subjected to life’s vicissitudes. Remember Mary-Kate’s endless attachment to her mint green bag—not despite, but possibly because of, its glaring red wine stain?
Although Le City has never needed reinvention, it was updated in 2024 when various vintage styles were studied together, so that the new construction—hand-assembled from 25 panels—signified a faithful “amalgamation.” The launch was announced with a campaign of portraits by Mario Sorrenti starring Moss as well as Mona Tougaard, Juyeon, and Yang Chaoyue. Last year, an “ultra-luxe” version marked the first runway appearance of Le City, coinciding with Piccioli’s debut. Another campaign followed, this time by David Sims—Le City’s original fashion photographer—marking a reunion and full-circle moment.
Arrow The campaign for the Hirst series features Ritchie dressed in a draped yellow top over jeans, her gaze smoldering as the mandala butterfly bag hangs from her forearm. Ekitike cradles one of the patchwork styles alongside the Seine.
For Hirst, Le City was imprinted on his mind even before the collaboration opportunity arose. “I think everyone knows it, don’t they? It’s one of the most iconic bags of the last 25 years,” he tells Vogue via email. “You associate it with the noughties, with Kate Moss, yet it’s still remained so relevant.”
This is a whole other Hirst than when he was preserving sharks in tanks or encrusting skulls with diamonds, yet the bags are not without a hint of subversion seeing as the original Spot Paintings were named after pharmaceutical drugs or chemical compounds and the Butterfly mandalas alluded to mortality, spirituality, and the passage of time.
Hugo Ekitike with the Balenciaga “DAMIENCIAGA” bag.
It’s likely his 25 hand-painted Le Cities (or is it Les Citys?) will have collector value. They look like they were a thrill to make, the layers of vivid paint leaving barely a trace of original surface. The artist suggests the best part will be when people make the bags their own. “It’s not just a ‘Balenciaga’ or a ‘Hirst’… they’re adding their personality to it. And I think that’s what fashion is all about.”
They are also a reminder that fashion loves a revival. Each Le City House will be reintroducing people to a cultural moment well before quiet luxury, and whatever we are shifting into now. Thanks to the anniversary, the bag is definitely back; the bolder, the better. To wit, Le City x Hirst even boasts a logo of sorts: ‘Damienciaga’ appears in a fine silver script along one side.
Source: Lifestyle
