Balenciaga is rebuilding its dominion – one bag at a time

When Balenciaga first released its Le City bag in 2001, then-creative director Nicolas Ghesquière’s slouchy, hardware-peppered design met mixed reactions – until it was spotted on the arm of one off-duty Kate Moss. 

Fast-forward 23 years, and Moss, alongside other global stars, was pictured with the bag once more for the French-owned house’s reintroduction of the quintessential 2000s It bag. For CEO Cédric Charbit and mononymous creative director Demna, reworking the style was a matter of when, not if. 

“Time was up for the City to make a comeback,” Charbit says. “If you create an icon and you own an icon, it’s something you need to treasure. You can’t imagine how many people I met asked me when the bag would be back.” 

While Charbit saw a chance to “relaunch the most iconic bag of them all”, the timing was about more than just a healthy appetite for Y2K nostalgia (or in many a Gen Zer’s case, nostalgia for a time they never experienced). “Our brand was going through a media scandal,” he recalls, referring to the fallout resulting from an advertising campaign at the end of 2022 that was shelved following a social-media outcry. Until that time, Balenciaga had been one of Kering’s fastest-growing brands and, while it does not break out numbers for individual houses, the fallout contributed to a seven per cent dip in sales on a comparable basis in Q4 of that year across the group. The brand went through a period of reflection, then doubled down on business and its core aesthetic. “We questioned our processes and brought in more checks, but we kept believing in our vision,” says Charbit.

You don’t want it because of the logo; you want it because it’s evidence of craft

The Le City reboot is part of a broader strategy placing Balenciaga bags front and centre. The goal is to tempt the house’s biggest spenders, whom Charbit refers to as VIPs and VICs (very important customers), and rebuild demand in key markets such as the US while underscoring the house codes. “Demna created some solid bestsellers in the past, like the Hourglass, Le Cagole, the Crush, but the time definitely came for more,” Charbit says. “Our VIPs and VICs couldn’t find bags even though they’d skyrocketed sales in ready-to-wear and shoes.”

The strategy seems to be working: in Kering’s 2023 annual report, the group said “trends improved significantly” for Balenciaga in North America and western Europe, while the house “delivered a solid performance” in Asia Pacific, where revenue growth was already noted in the first half of the year. According to Lyst, searches for Balenciaga bags are up 10 per cent month-on-month, with searches for Le City up 104 per cent in May alone, contributing to the brand’s biggest month on the platform in two years.

Demna has also launched two other propositions: the Rodeo, which made its first appearance at the brand’s Paris show last October, and the Bel Air, which launches this month after being teased at the AW24 show. Where Le City sells nostalgia, the Beverly Hills-inspired Rodeo deals in vintage charm reminiscent of the brand’s founder Cristóbal Balenciaga. Its aged-gold hardware and supple lambskin give the appearance of long-time wear. 

Balenciaga leather Rodeo medium bag, £3,290

Balenciaga metallised-leather Le City bag, £2,090

Meanwhile, the many-pocketed, matte-finished Bel Air plays with one of Demna’s signatures: it’s extremely oversized. Metal snaps can expand the main compartment and, thanks to its adjustable closures, it can be worn in several ways. “I wanted to create a leather bag that I would want to wear myself,” says Demna. “That would be classic and cool at the same time.”

According to Selfridges’ accessories buying manager, Olivia Rands, the re‑release of Le City is a sign of the times: “It demonstrates an interesting fluidity between old and new: consumers are less interested in newness and more excited by enduring style signifiers.”

The new models are also noticeably logo-free. There was a gap in the market for “iconic, pure luxe bags”, Charbit says. “You don’t want it because of the logo or the trend. You want it because it’s a signal – it’s evidence of craft and luxury.” 

These words will strike some as incongruous, given Demna’s propensity for the ironic and absurd (Balenciaga’s £2,490 fruit- and veg-printed Antwerp grocery bags and enormous 10XL sneakers being more recent examples). But amid a global slowdown in luxury demand, it’s no surprise Charbit is investing in timelessness.

The shift towards the understated ultra-luxe bag also dovetails with luxury’s rapidly escalating prices. Amid economic and political uncertainty, shoppers are doubling down on heirloom-worthy accessories. The Bain-Altagamma Luxury Goods study this year observes a “heightened demand for ‘core’ items” and “more exclusive investment pieces” within the leather-goods category.

The Rodeo already has a 2,000-strong waiting list for small and medium sizes. Luxury sourcing expert Gab Waller says the bag is one of her 10 most requested handbag styles of the year. She has noticed a “huge increase in investment dressing and buying”, with clients opting for bags that are a long-term investment. “The Rodeo bag is Balenciaga’s answer to that,” she says. 

From Charbit’s perspective, that shift has been a long time coming, as evidenced by Le City’s full-circle moment. “My plan has always been to transition from hype to timeless,” he says. “When Cristóbal created the babydoll dress, it was new and daring, and eventually became timeless. We do something that feels right, something groundbreaking, something that challenges the status quo and beauty norms, and it’ll become a timeless product.”