B is for Balenciaga

hen I travelled through France in 2008 for my belated honeymoon (I got married in 2006), one of my biggest regrets was not buying something special to remember my trip by. Don't get me wrong, I bought small things here and there, but not something that was extravagant. There were 2 things that I almost bought and didn't during my trip and those were a Longchamp Le Pliage tote and a Balenciaga City bag. 

When I was in Nice, France almost every other girl carried a Longchamp tote. I didn't know at the time what it was because in the city where I live nobody carried them. I was going back and forth whether I should buy it or not and ended up not buying it. On the plane ride home, a couple sitting in front of us had a Longchamp shopping bag and I regretted it right away. I couldn't stop thinking about it so when I was visiting Montreal last February for work I made a pit stop to Ogilvy, a high-end department store, and bought my first Longchamp Le Pliage tote. 

As for the Balenciaga, I made it my goal to stop by the Balenciaga store in Cannes, France while we were there. We don't have a free standing Balenciaga store in the city where I live so I just wanted to check it out. I wasn't planning on buying a bag because I knew they were super expensive. However, my husband almost bought it for me that day. He kept nudging me to try on the colour that I wanted, but I decided that it was too expensive and we left empty-handed. What a mistake! Because we all know that once you start having kids and buy a house, owning a luxury designer item goes down the priority list pretty rapidly. So long story short, buy it while you can and if you can. Of course, you have to still live by your means…

Now, I had a bit of money that I had gotten as a push present after having my 2nd. I knew I wanted to use that to put towards a designer purse. My husband had a boys trip to Las Vegas last week and I decided that it was the perfect time to use that money. I had to still save up a little bit more to buy the purse that I really wanted, but my husband was nice enough to just get it for me.

I was debating between 2 brands, but in the end Balenciaga won. Finally my 2008 regret was no longer! 

I gave my husband a detailed list with the different options (just in case they didn't have one in stock) so that he would be well-prepared when buying my purse. I based my colour choices of the Balenciaga bags from their official website and what they had listed in stock. I decided to just go with the regular hardware because I think it is classic and it will go with everything. I detest the giant hardware (the G21. It is discontinued now. Thank goodness!) because I think it looks gaudy and tacky. The mini Giant hardware (the G12) is ok, but again, I wanted the regular antique brass hardware. And the G12's are more expensive.

My first choice- Balenciaga City in Glycine.
This was a S/S 2012 colour. After looking at all the purses in my closet I realized
I didn't have a purple colour and I LOVE purple.

My second choice- Balenciaga City in Jacinthe.
This was a F/W 2012 colour. I thought this colour would go well with a lot of things in my
closet because it almost looked like a denim colour.

My third choice- Balenciaga City in Parme.
I think this was a F/W 2011 colour. This colour leans on the pink side, but it is also neutral
enough that it would go with a lot of colours in my closet.

My fourth choice- Balenciaga City in Rose Bonbon.
This is the S/S 2013 colour. I normally wouldn't get a pink purse, but I thought this would
be a fun idea for spring/summer. 

My fifth choice- Balenciaga City in Black.
Classic and I don't have any black bags in my collection. However, I wanted to get a
colourful Balenciaga bag because that's what they are know for- their fantastic array of
colours. I can get a basic black in a cheaper bag…

My other choice from a different brand was the Louis Vuitton Speedy 30 Bandouliere.
I know I already talked about this when I posted about my LV Key Pouch here, but I
didn't actually try this on in person (they didn't have the 30 size in stock when I went
to the store a couple of weeks ago) so I wasn't sure how it would look on my frame.
My husband said he went and saw this purse in person, but he hates the Damier Ebene print.
I don't know why because I bought him a Damier Ebene print wallet and he still uses it to
this day. Maybe he hates this print on girls? 

So what bag did I get and what colour???

I got the Balenciaga City in Jacinthe! They didn't have the Glycine. My husband said
he saw Rose Bonbon and Black and whatever other colours that they had in the store,
but he said this was the nicest one. I'm a little bit mad because the colour that they had
online was completely different from the true colour of Jacinthe. Jacinthe is more of a
purple-ish blue. Online it shows up as a blue. I still love it though because I love my
purples. So I suggest that you see the colours in person before purchasing it online.
The Purse Forum is also a great resource to check out. Not just for Balenciaga bags.
Oh, and lovebbags.com is also a great Balenciaga bag resource site.

And here is the back.

The famous stitching on the handles of Balenciaga purses.

The bag closes with 2 zipper pulls.
The difference (other than the hardware) between the Classic-style and the Giant-style are
that the Classics have the leather tassels while the Giants do not.

You can tell the real from the fakes by the rivets. Real Balenciaga bags (post 2004) should
have notches at the top and bottom.

Another indication is the bale. Authentic Balenciaga bags should have rounded bales
instead of square bales.

The stitching on the tag at the top running across should be BLACK while the stitching
on the sides of the tag and the bottom should be the colour of your Balenciaga bag.

You can tell the season of your Balenciaga bag by the letter after the number on the tag.
In my case the letter is 'K'. That means it is from F/W (Fall/Winter) 2012. You can find
out in more detail what season your bag is here.

I believe Balenciaga bags now come with 2 little pockets (2012 models).
I don't think previous models had that… They used to only have the zip pocket.

All the tags that came with the bag as well as the leather colour swatch.

The sales associate also put in a sample of the new Balenciaga fragrance.

I would have been happy with this one bag, but my husband surprised me with another purse- a Longchamp LM Metal Shoulder Tote.

My other Longchamp purse is the large Le Pliage in Duck Blue.
This one is the medium size and it is a coated canvas with leather accents. The bag
has the LM (Longchamp Maroquinerie, or in English 'small leather goods from Longchamp')
logo throughout.

The back.
Unlike the Le Pliage, this cannot be folded up into a compact size.

Close-up of the leather closure.

Modèle Déposé, which is on every Longchamp bags means 'Registered design'.

The zipper pull.

The inside is lined with a brown-coloured fabric.
My Le Pliage is white on the inside and it isn't lined with fabric. It shows a lot
of marks so I'm glad this one is not white and is a fabric lining.

I'm still too sick to do any OOTD shots of me with my new purses, but I will once I feel better.

A certain je ne sais quoi

One thing I noticed while I was in France was that many French girls were sporting Longchamp handbags. Normally I would not be attracted to something so simple and plain, but I think it grew on me.
North Americans are so enamored with having logos splattered all over their designer goods, but there is something about the French that is so carefree and chic. They can make a plain outfit look amazing with their accessories.
I so regret not getting me one of these.


Quadrille


Le Pilage BD

Main image courtesy of the Sartorialist.