As reality settles in and we face the fact that Nicolas Ghesquiere and Balenciaga have decided to part ways, we continue to mourn in the only way now: by celebrating the legendary handbags that Ghesquiere created for Balenciaga. The longevity of the Balenciaga Motorcycle Bag, in all its incarnations, is astounding; the design debuted in 2001 and ever since, it’s been toting in a zillion different forms by everyone from the world’s most prominent fashion editors to a full half of the PurseBlog company staff. (That’s me, Megs and Hilary, for those of you who are counting.)

I’ve owned four Balenciaga bags over the years, and they’re what fueled my initial foray into the world of premiere designer handbags in the first place. I became aware of them largely because of the design’s huge celebrity following; when I was in college, you couldn’t find a starlet without one. To this day, it seems as though practically every woman in Hollywood has a Balenciaga somewhere in her regular rotation. Doubt it? We’d like to offer a bevy of proof, which you’ll find below.