BAGS OF TIME

What makes anything a timeless beauty? With their dramatic design and uncomplicated functionality, the bags on these pages have cracked the code on becoming desirable objects. We trace the journey of four handbags to learn how they've become iconic in fashion. First designed anywhere between 30 to a hundred years ago, they've changed hands through the decades and remained immortalised in style.

- Ashwini Arun Kumar

THE DIOR SADDLE

After it was spotted in the hands of the late Princess Diana several times but, most importantly, at the 1966 Met Gala, the Lady Dior bag reached a stratospheric level of fame, becoming one of the most-coveted bags in the world. The Lady Dior is not, however, the only iconic bag that the House of Dior has to offer.

The Saddle, named after and inspired by the equestrian riding seat, is a bag reserved for those with subversive taste who can see the appeal of the polarising ugly chic aesthetic.

Designed in 1999 by John Galliano, Dior's creative director from 1997 to 2011, the Saddle first appeared in the brand's Spring 2000 collection. Just like any bag of the '90s on its way to becoming an 'It' item, a white Saddle with 'CD' chain print also appeared in season 3 of the popular TV show Sex And The City (1998), nestled in the left armpit of the oh-so-stylish Carrie Bradshaw (played by Sarah Jessica Parker).

The Saddle became instantly popular, driving an uptick in the sales of Dior's accessories by 60%, until its eventual overexposure caused the bag to lose value - as often happens in luxury. In 2018, Dior's current creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri gave the Saddle a new lease on life by reintroducing it in the Fall 2018 collection in the house's signature 'Oblique' monogram.

With a shoulder strap much longer than when it was first introduced, the Saddle could now be used as a cross-body. Twenty-five years after its inception, the bag is a cult product.

GUCCI HORSEBIT 1955

Founder Guccio Gucci might have started the eponymous brand in 1921 as a luggage-making atelier, often turning to exquisite Tuscan leather to manufacture steamer trunks, but it wasn't long before his passion for equestrianism bled into Gucci's narrative.