18 Years Later, Dior’s Saddlebag Is Officially Back—Here’s How It’s Made
18 Years Later, Dior’s Saddle Bag Is Officially Back—Here’s How It’s Made
Nostalgia for the late ’90s and early ’00s shows no sign of abating. While many of us mine consignment shops and resale sites looking for the 20-year-old pieces we missed the first time around, several designers are making it easier by reintroducing the very best archival pieces from the decades. Dior’s Maria Grazia Chiuri, for instance, has been mining the legacy of not only Monsieur Christian Dior himself, but also his successors, among them John Galliano, whose saddlebag debuted in 2000 to instant success. It quickly appeared on Sex and the City and on the arms of Hollywood celebrities, and thanks to fashion’s born-again tastes for logos—coupled with the fact that Beyoncé and CL have been wearing vintage saddlebags of late—it’s suddenly hot again, selling out on secondhand sites like The RealReal.
At her Fall 2018 show in March, Chiuri surprised everyone with her own twists on the coveted saddlebag. Her versions, which officially launch in Dior boutiques today, came in black calfskin, logoed canvas, beaded embellishments, and patchworked florals, which connected the bag to the show’s theme of ’60s activism. Each one came with those familiar C and D gold clasps, and looked surprisingly modern with Chiuri’s shearling jackets and checked suits. “I thought this collection would be an opportunity to revive [the saddlebag’s] timeless beauty,” the designer said in a release. “I consider this icon of the house’s recent history the perfect accessory to deal with this battle that is daily life . . . It’s so comfortable to wear with its long strap that you almost forget it’s there.”
The new saddlebag isn’t a complete reproduction, of course. The new bags are slightly larger than the originals, likely to accommodate an iPhone X and all the other stuff we carry these days. But other than that, little has changed. That’s true of how the bags are made, too; in Dior’s atelier, teams of leather craftsmen hand-stitch and assemble each bag one by one. To give you a better sense of that careful, couture-like process, the house shared behind-the-scenes photos and clips exclusively with Vogue of a bag being made from start to finish. We can’t say you won’t be tempted to splurge on a bag of your own—but here’s our theory: It’s proven to be timeless, and will likely be “back” again in 20 years, so it’s a worthy investment.
