Balenciaga Celebrates 25 years of The Le City Bag

There are certain fashion pieces that transcend their status as garments and become part of pop culture, objects whose relevance refuses to fade with time. For more than two decades, the Balenciaga Le City bag has occupied precisely that territory. First introduced in 2001, its slouchy silhouette, distressed leather and oversized hardware challenged the conventions of luxury, cultivating an attitude that would turn it into one of fashion’s most recognisable cult accessories.

To mark its 25th anniversary, Balenciaga is turning the Le City into a global meeting point for culture, launching a two-chapter campaign that brings together figures from fashion, art, music and sport. The first chapter sees Isabelle Huppert, Hugo Ekitike, Nicole Richie, Rachel Sennott and Cecilia Boey, among others, revisit their personal relationship with the bag through a series of cool snapshots. More than a retrospective, the campaign celebrates the community that has shaped the Le City’s mythology across generations and geographies like LA, Paris, or Shanghai.

Adding another dimension to the anniversary, Balenciaga joins forces with Damien Hirst for an exclusive limited-edition collection that places the artist’s visual language against the Le City’s iconic DNA. Multicoloured spots, butterfly motifs, transformed wings, embroidered references, and kinetic Spin-inspired compositions rework the bag into a moving canvas, blurring the boundaries between collectible fashion and contemporary art. Spanning mini, small, medium and large silhouettes, alongside wallets, pouches, card holders and micro charms, the collaboration introduces a new vocabulary to an already iconic object. Signed with the playful portmanteau Damienciaga, the project is just a small part of the planned celebration of the iconic bag.

The Balenciaga x Damien Hirst series and other Balenciaga Le City bags are available on balenciaga.com and at select Balenciaga stores worldwide.