You can be sure these timeless luxury icons will never go out of style.
The luxury handbag world is vast, with both new handbag brands and new designs from storied luxury houses popping up season after season. Each year, there are countless silhouettes on the market, and consumers are blessed with more options than ever.
While consumers often pay attention to what’s new and trendy, demand will always remain for the tried and true classics – the ones that have stood the test of time. It’s those classics that have helped to shape fashion history contributing to the luxury accessory world we know (and love) today.
So whether you’re new to the world of designer bags and looking to purchase your first one, or are making it your goal to collect all of the classics, today we thought it would be fun to break day the 5 most luxury classic handbags in all of modern handbag history.
The HERMÈS Birkin
We’re kicking it off with one of the most elusive bags of handbag history, the unmistakeable HERMÈS Birkin.
If you love luxury handbags, you likely know the story of the Birkin’s creation, whether you own one or not. In the early 1980s, HERMÈS CEO Jean-Louis Dumas sat next to Jane Birkin on an airplane. In-flight, the duo discussed what would make a good carry-on bag after Jane Birkin was seen fumbling with hers.
One sketch on an airplane sick bag, and in 1984, the HERMÈS Birkin was born. To this day, it spawns waitlists and sells at a premium on the secondary market. It is still widely considered the world’s ultimate luxury bag.
LOUIS VUITTON Speedy
Like it or not, the LOUIS VUITTON Speedy will forever be classified as one of the most classic bags in handbag history, as well as one of the most recognisable. Dating back to the 1930s, the Speedy was conceptualized as LOUIS VUITTON’s first daily hauler and was largely based on another one of the brand’s classics: The Keepall. First introduced in the 30 size, the Speedy 25 was later added in 1959 at the request of none other than Audrey Hepburn. The actress was then photographed carrying her Speedy time and time again.
The Speedy’s range is vast, offering multiple sizes from ultra-petite to extra-large and a wide array of materials and colors. Of course, the brand’s monogram is ubiquitous and has an important history. The LOUIS VUITTON Monogram was already copyrighted in 1896 when it was invented by Louis Vuitton’s son Georges.
Combining Louis Vuitton’s initials with abstract floral shapes, the creation of LV Monogram was a radical move, as prior to this creation any initials typically seen on a trunk were usually the carrier’s own.
The Lady DIOR
The youngest handbag on our list, few other new handbag designs of the last 30 years have been able to stand the test of time in the way that the Lady DIOR has. However, it was basically destined to become handbag royalty since it was named after British royalty herself, the late Lady Diana, Princess of Wales. Few bags boast the versatility of the Lady DIOR, and its classic shape makes it an ageless icon.
Unmistakably DIOR, the Lady DIOR pays homage to the history of the House. While the bag’s charms are an ode to the lucky charms Christian Dior always kept with him, the staple Cannage motif traces back to the Napoleon III seats the House used to set up for guests at fashion shows. Reinvented season after season and forever a beloved choice for handbag lovers of any age, the Lady DIOR has cemented its place among other revered bags of its caliber.
Known by most as the CHANEL Classic Flap, the bag also goes by the CHANEL 11.12 and is one of the most widely recognizable handbags of all time. The name 11.12 comes from the original style code given by CHANEL to the Medium Classic Flap (A01112), the OG of the Classic Flap family. The original was derived from the CHANEL 2.55 bag and came to be what we know it as today in 1983, when Karl Lagerfeld added the now-signature interwoven CC turn lock to the bag.
Despite hefty price increases, the demand for the CHANEL Classic Flap shows no signs of slowing down. It has remained one of the handbag world’s most sought-after shapes thanks to its status, reinvented repeatedly.
GUCCI Bamboo
While not a specific bag exactly, GUCCI Bamboo deserves a place on this list as few elements of handbag history are as recognizable and inventive as the curved handles of Gucci Bamboo.
The patented method of creation was developed in 1947 by GUCCI craftsmen who realized there was a specific process to heat and bend bamboo in such a way that it would retain its shape once cooled.
The process is detailed and thorough, and you can be sure that each and every Bamboo piece used for a handbag has been hand-chosen by a specially trained artisan who will then mold the bamboo over a fire to bend it into shape. As the bamboo heats up, it softens, making it malleable.
Artisans have meticulously crafted GUCCI’s Bamboo Handles this way for generations. And while GUCCI Bamboo is easily one of the House’s most emblematic symbols, it also happens to be one of the handbag world’s most classic bags, remaining a mainstay for the House since the 1940s. A GUCCI Bamboo bag is one of the most timeless bags a handbag lover can buy.
The rise, fall, and rise of DIOR’s small but mighty icon.
This little bag was dreamt up by DIOR’s former artistic director John Galliano, its shrunken saddle shape and stirrup-like ‘D’ charm.
Whether or not you enjoy equestrian pursuits, you’ve probably heard of the DIOR Saddle. This little bag was dreamt up by DIOR’s former artistic director John Galliano, its shrunken saddle shape and stirrup-like ‘D’ charm a “tribute to the elegance of the equestrian universe”. One should note, it’s probably not suitable for horse riding.
Some conjecture that the DIOR Saddle bag was inspired by a 1976 Helmut Newton photograph entitled ‘Saddle I, Paris.’
The DIOR Saddle made its first appearance in 1999 in DIOR’s spring/summer 2000 ready-to-wear show, slung upon the shoulders of models dressed in Galliano’s provocatively split mini dresses, horse-bit-buckled hotpants, and sexed-up denim. Speaking of sex, some conjecture that the Saddle bag was (at least in part) inspired by a 1976 Helmut Newton photograph entitled ‘Saddle I, Paris’. It depicts a model on all fours, wearing jodhpurs, riding boots, a push-up bra, and, most importantly, a saddle – stirrups and all – upon her back. This theory has never been verified by Dior, though the house has never shied away from the Saddle’s sexy connotations; one only has to look at Nick Knight’s 2000 ad campaign, featuring two models passionately entwined, for proof.
Shortly after its release, the DIOR Saddle made its way into season three, episode five of Sex and the City.
But back to the bag, and specifically, its induction into the early noughts (unofficial) It bag hall of fame. Sure, Galliano knew how to create objects of desire, but no one induced shopping fever quite like Carrie Bradshaw. Shortly after its release, the DIOR Saddle made its way into season three, episode five of Sex and the City, as the means by which Carrie transported her contraband cigarette on her second date with anti-smoking Aidan. The Saddle in question, an equestrian-print version in pink, white, and gold, is now near-impossible to get hold of, as you might imagine.
Carrie Bradshaw. The DIOR Saddle made its way into season three, episode five of Sex and the City.
Galliano reimagined the DIOR saddle bag in various, highly-collectible guises, including leopard spots, the house’s iconic Oblique pattern.
The DIOR Saddle’s It bag status was cemented and reflected in DIOR’s 2001 accessories sales; WWD reported up by 60 percent. By 2003, the DIOR Saddle was at its zenith. It was toted by the era’s It bag-defining celebrities, notably Paris Hilton, who was pictured with one in white leather and another in indigo-rinse denim. Galliano reimagined the bag in various, highly-collectible guises, including leopard spots, the house’s iconic Oblique pattern, and the (now extremely rare) Christian DIOR Daily newspaper print – popularised when the aforementioned Ms. Bradshaw wore it in dress version, in the penultimate episode of Sex and the City’s third season.
If an It bag is defined by its zeitgeisty appeal, it’s ultimately destined to be retired to its dustbag, and the Saddle was no exception. It was notably absent from DIOR’s spring/summer 2007 show, a subdued collection of taupe-hued skirt suits and discreet, ladylike handbags. The economy was on the down-turn and so too, the logomania amongst which the Saddle had thrived.
The DIOR Saddle in DIOR’s iconic oblique pattern.
The Y2K icon was now being resold on consignment and via eBay at a fraction of its original price tag (in some cases under £100), a vestige from a bygone era of maximalism and irreverence. It seemed impossible for such an antique of the 2000s to return to favor, hence the bargain prices.
If anything is certain, fashion is a fickle mistress and Beyoncé can do anything. In 2014, the singer signaled the DIOR Saddle’s return when she was photographed clutching one of Galliano’s original designs. Two years later, Korean popstar CL followed suit, proudly brandishing an ‘Adiorable’-print DIOR Saddle on Instagram. Y2K v2 was here. Saddle fanciers clamored to eBay, Vestiaire Collective, and the like to snap up their own archive pieces, and prices spiked. Those who had been prescient enough to buy a pre-loved Saddle bag between 2007 and 2014 had made a very wise investment.
Customers started searching for pre-owned, Galliano-era DIOR Saddles as soon as the autumn/winter show 2018 streamed
If appetites weren’t suitable, DIOR then launched a social media campaign, for which 100 fashion insiders posted about the #DIORSaddle on Instagram. Within 48 hours, searches for the style spiked by 957 percent. Never underestimate the power of 2000s nostalgia.
This year, for cruise 2023, Dior reinvented it once again.
It may have Y2K It bags status and a trending hashtag in its history, but the DIOR Saddle has more to it than zeitgeist appeal, not least of all its impeccable craftsmanship. This year, for cruise 2023, Dior reinvented it once again, calling upon Andalusian artisans to lend their centuries-perfected craft to the Saddle. In this video, Seville-based leather craftsman Javier Menacho describes how his expertise in saddlery has been applied to this season’s DIOR Saddle bags – apt, considering the DIOR Saddle’s equestrian influences.
From 2000s icon to forgotten favorite to fashion phoenix, the DIOR Saddle has had quite the ride – pun intended. As we find ourselves firmly back in the saddle, there’s no better time to round up the best Galliano-era and modern-day DIOR Saddles across the web. . And, for more in-depth histories of the most iconic fashion items of all time, head this way.
