Balenciaga Handbags

I have long been telling the story of my collection being Balenciaga-less. It is still Balenciaga-less, even though Vlad and I were on a mission to find me the perfect first Balenciaga bag when we were in NYC. What went wrong you ask, I’ll tell you below.

We started off at the Balenciaga NY store, which is truly off the beaten path near the Hudson River on 22nd Street. The store itself was confusing. As we walked through a cave-like entry way with boisterous music echoing loudly, we wondered if we ended up in the actual store or Balenciaga corporate headquarters. It was their store indeed, with fewer handbags than I expected and service lower than sub-par. Even if there were more BBags in the back room, no one asked us if we needed help, so we only saw what was on the floor. The bag selection was bleak and the service embarrassing, so we left still Balenciaga-less.

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One of my favorite parts of every new handbag season is waiting for the new Balenciaga colors to start hitting stores and websites. They’re my favorite brand and consistently product some of the most vibrant leather colors of any high-end designer. Since their bag shapes are simple and iconic, it lets the ever-changing leather shades take center stage, where some become highly sought-after and collectible.

My favorite from Fall 2009 is Pommier, a beautiful bright green that this photo doesn’t do justice. From what I’ve seen, it’s more of a Kelly shade in real life, and I couldn’t think of anything more beautiful to wear with the blacks and greys of fall. It’s been a while since we’ve seen a green like this from Balenciaga, which is refreshing – they’ve taken to repeating some of their most recent hits in the past few seasons. I’d prefer it with giant silver hardware (since I prefer everything with giant silver hardware), but I’d settle for the regular hardware pictured here if I had to. Maybe if I can save my pennies, I’ll have one of these lovely bags to show you ladies in the future. Buy through Barney’s for $1095.

This clutch is a favorite among the Purse Blog team. Amanda covered this Balenciaga clutch a few months ago, and as far as I know she still did not buy it. Then there is me, who has a slight obsession with clutches and loves the giant hardware on Balenciaga bags. So an oversized clutch with giant hardware is pure love for me. Why have I still not purchased one of these clutches? The answer is truly beyond me. I keep wanting to wait and get it at the Balenciaga store in NYC. Our next trip we are tacking on at least one day for shopping, this I promise not only you but myself.

For me, the Balenciaga Arena Giant Envelope is an ideal clutch. It is a fold-over clutch with lambskin and giant silver-toned hardware. A magnetic closure is easy to use and there is a zipper pocket. I need this clutch. It is a perfect addition to my collection. I always have the same problem with Balenciaga, what color is best? The many color options actually send my head spinning rather than give me clarity on what I want. I am thinking pink. Once I finally get this clutch (and more BBags that I keep talking about), you all will breathe a sigh of relief not having to hear me try to decide on my ‘firsts’ for Balenciaga. Buy through Barneys for $995.

I believe I have outwardly voiced my love of the giant hardware Balenciaga bags previously, the silver hardware to be exact. It is not that I do not love gold, in fact I have found a new love of gold jewelry. But when it came to BBags, I thought silver hardware was the perfect color. Now I am questioning myself. After seeing some of the new combinations of giant gold hardware on some Balenciaga bags I am torn. The gold hardware has grown on me and I find myself leaning towards it more and more. Vlad and I will be in NYC next week and I may end up at the Balenciaga store, ready to make my first BBag purchase. It has been a long time in the making and I am ready to take a morning off of meetings to do some shopping. Do I go for classic hardware or take the plunge into giant hardware? Help me make my decision – and give me reasons why!

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For almost everyone, I think Balenciaga is one of those brands that you either understand or you don’t. Yes – they make more or less the same bags in different colors year after year. Yes – many of them haven’t changed drastically in design since they were first introduced. Yes – many people are happy to do what basically amounts to buying the same bag in a bunch of colors. And some people may think that’s nuts, but I think it’s AWESOME. I love Balenciaga, and anyone that’s familiar with the Balenciaga section on the Forum knows that the Bal girls get in to the details of their bags in a way that few other brand’s customers do. Leather texture and hardware are discussed heavily, even though the differences may not be huge to the casual observer. As a result, when one thing changes about how Balenciaga builds their bags, tongues are set wagging about it for months, if not years.

So what did they do that had everyone up in arms?

Whether or not you believe that clothing and accessories can qualify as art, you have to look at the Balenciaga Metallic Crocodile Wristlet and see, first and foremost, an art object. It’s uses (and, most likely, it’s production) are decidedly limited, but if I was to get my hands on it, I think I’d probably just hold it and stare at it anyway. The crocodile skin is treated in such a way that it almost reminds me of mother of pearl – it’s shiny, but in a way that does a beautiful job picking up the colors and the light around them, making the bag look eternally different. It’s finished with polished blue-green accents, which might be either polished stone or lucite, it’s impossible to tell, and a bold box-chain wrist strap. It doesn’t look like it would hold much, and I’m sure it costs an arm and a leg, but it’s just so stinkin’ beautiful that I don’t really care. Where do I sign up?

Picture courtesy of Style.com

The first version of the Balenciaga Giant Lattice City that I saw was the smaller multicolor version, and let’s just say that my feelings were, at best, mixed. The combination of colors seemed kind of muddled, and the abundance of blue trim sorta took away from the effect of the latticed leather. But today, I stumbled across the black and white version, and my opinion changed immediately. Since the bag is bicolor instead of multicolor, the careful precision with which the leather is woven becomes much more apparent. At first it looks scattered, but if examined closely, there’s an almost-symmetry to the pattern that indicates just how much care was taken when deciding where the bag would change colors. If it had been completely symmetrical, it wouldn’t nearly as interesting to look at, but as it is, I find it almost fascinating. I love the Balenciaga aesthetic in general, and I REALLY love their bags with giant silver hardware, so all of that combined with the intricacy of the black-and-white woven detail really makes me wish I had an extra $2700 laying around. If I did, I’d be all over this. Buy through Barney’s for $2695.

And now, for something completely different…Balenciaga Fall 2009 is certainly a big departure from the ultra-structured, futuristic, at times minimalist collections we’ve seen from Nicolas Ghesquière over the past couple of years. There’s nothing space-aged about these strongly Parisian clothes, and that only serves to prove what a versatile designer Ghesquière is and will continue to become. Anyone that can do suits so structured that just looking at them improves my posture and silk dresses so languid and airy that I want to laze around all day in them is worth whatever amount of money the Balenciaga’s parent company is paying him. A one-trick pony, he is obviously not.

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I think that one of my favorite things about Bluefly is that their selection is so vast and random. They carry brands that are rarely found elsewhere on the Internet and bags that may not have made it onto the radar of the casual aficionado, in addition to lots of reliable favorites. A perfect example of the breadth of their available bags is the Balenciaga Lune Tote. As one of their rarely-noticed non-motorcycle bags, the Lune may have been overlooked by many, but I think that anyone who appreciates a statement bag should give it some serious consideration. It’s a bicolor, multi-textured beauty made of soft denim-colored goat leather and smooth, slick black calfskin with enough buckles, straps, and trim to keep anyone entertained. It’s big enough to handle all of its accoutrement, though, and the Balenciaga bag designers stopped just before it got overdone. The more I look at it, the more I wonder why we never saw Victoria Beckham carrying the Lune – it kind of looks like something she would like, doesn’t it? Buy through Bluefly for $2060.

I’ve written about many a clutch on this site. At barely 23, I find myself at a time in life when clutches are possibly the most important bags I have – they have to go with the largest variety of outfits and fit in to the largest variety of situations. Dive bars, bottle service at a club, dinner out at a variety of restaurants, shopping with friends the next day when I’m too lazy to switch back to a day bag – my clutches go everywhere. I have a million inexpensive ones, but if I could pick just a single glorious clutch to have, I’d give all my cheap ones in exchange for the Balenciaga Arena Giant Envelope Clutch. There are a few reasons why. Click here to read on!