Perhaps one of the rarest items, and also one of my favourite vintage pieces in my archive—Christian Dior Saddle bag by the house’s former creative director, John Galliano makes it a tribute to the elegance of the equestrian universe.
The controversial designer John Galliano to me, is somewhat like the Salvador Dalí of fashion—extremely brilliant, ferocious creativity, and at the same time, chaotic. Galliano treated fashion as a form of storytelling, and despite lacking in technical prowess, he more than made up for it in his imagination. A fan of his creative mind, but NOT a fan of his anti-Semitic rants that spread like wildfire in 2011, where he also proclaimed, “I love Hitler”.
The Saddle made its first appearance in 1999 in Dior’s spring/summer 2000 ready-to-wear show, paired with Galliano’s split mini dresses, horse bit-buckled hotpants and denims. It’s been said that the inspiration of the Saddle bag is party inspired by the photograph ‘Saddle I, Paris’ in 1976 by Helmut Newton. It has then been the Y2K It bag and recently made a comeback in 2018 with Dior’s creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri.
The It bag is now being resold on consignment ranging from almost a fraction of its original price tag, serving as a memento from one of fashion history’s Galliano-era and maximalism. I predict this will make another comeback in the next couple of years (as fashion always does) and will cost a lot more than they are at present. In fact, for Cruise 2023, Dior has once again reinvented the Saddle bag with the help of Andalusian artisans to lend their centuries-perfected craft to the Saddle.
Is it worth it?
I’ve had some issues with the shape in the beginning, because what and how do you fit things in a saddle-shaped bag? But yes, it works well for me once I’ve figured it out! Fitting all my essentials since I don’t usually carry much.
In addition, it is a slightly more affordable option for a luxury bag, the Dior Saddle bag is an excellent choice, they typically hold their value well, with Forbes reporting in early 2023 the bag currently has an 89% average value retention rate.