Balenciaga begins its Le City 25th anniversary program on November 10, 2026, with a Damien Hirst collaboration, a two-chapter campaign, and public installations in selected flagships. The program examines the bag’s design, its early supporters, and the collectors who have made it part of their everyday wardrobes. The opening Le City House installation takes place at the house’s historic Paris address, 10 Avenue George V, before further editions reach New York, Tokyo, Shanghai, and Beijing.
BAGS
The anniversary brings several generations of Le City together. Archival bags and collectors’ personal belongings document its history, while Hirst introduces new graphics to its familiar leather construction. Campaign participants include early owner Nicole Richie alongside Isabelle Huppert, Hugo Ekitike, Rachel Sennott, and Cecilia Boey. Personalisation and care appointments give existing owners a way to participate with bags they already carry.
Nicolas Ghesquière designed the first Le City in 2001, drawing on the construction and attitude of a motorcycle jacket. Its supple Arena lambskin body featured long leather zipper pulls, buckles at curved corners, whipstitched handles, pronounced external pockets, and flat-topped conical studs. These elements gave the bag a recognisable identity through its materials and hardware. The soft construction allowed it to follow the wearer’s body and accommodate the practical demands of daily use.
Balenciaga connects that approach to the principles of its founder. Cristóbal Balenciaga established the house in 1917, developing couture around the living body and the relationship between clothing and its wearer. His independence from prevailing conventions provides the historical context for Le City’s introduction during a period associated with conspicuous logos and rigid bag shapes.
The original prototype attracted attention within the ateliers, including that of Kate Moss, whose enthusiasm helped encourage its production. Journalists subsequently focused on its generous capacity, which suited the portable technologies entering everyday life, and its restrained branding. The description “Anti It Bag” followed. The name City initially identified the medium size before becoming associated with the wider line.
Paparazzi photography helped establish Le City’s public identity during the early 2000s. Gisele Bündchen, Paris and Nicky Hilton, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Sarah Jessica Parker, Nicole Richie, and Carine Roitfeld appeared carrying the bag, generating attention before an official advertising campaign. According to Balenciaga, that original version appeared in a single campaign, which David Sims photographed in 2006.
Later interpretations adapted its construction and hardware. Demna introduced Neo City in 2020, followed by Le Cagole in 2022, which brought back a leather-framed pocket mirror. Related buckles and thimble-like studs also appeared on footwear, accessories, and ready-to-wear. Balenciaga officially relaunched Le City in 2024 with a campaign featuring Moss. Subsequent imagery revisited archival paparazzi photographs and connected early owners with a younger generation of wearers.
In 2025, a more luxurious interpretation made Le City’s official runway debut in Pierpaolo Piccioli’s first collection for Balenciaga. The following campaign reunited the bag with Sims, returning to a photographer associated with its original advertising.
For the anniversary, Damien Hirst develops several graphic treatments for the bag and smaller leather goods. One new pattern arranges multicolored circular spots into simplified butterfly shapes. Other designs use mandalas composed of transformed wings, embroidered patches referencing names and recognisable artworks, and imagery drawn from his Spin Paintings. The collaboration connects these motifs with Le City’s relaxed shape and established metal hardware.
The Balenciaga | Damien Hirst range includes mini, small, medium, and large Le City bags, alongside wallets, pouches, card holders, and micro bag charms. Each treatment features its own graphics and the handwritten name “Damienciaga.” Selected pieces appear in the anniversary campaign, while Le City House installations exhibit further examples. The collaboration draws on Hirst’s recurring interests in beauty, renewal, belief, and the possibilities of artistic experience.
The first chapter of the campaign asks its participants to describe their relationships with Le City. Huppert, a Balenciaga Ambassador, discusses how the bag acquires character through use, connecting that quality with her experience of Paris. Ekitike addresses the house’s links with fashion, music, and sport, and their relevance to his generation.
In Los Angeles, Richie reflects on carrying Balenciaga bags during different periods of her life. Sennott describes Le City as an everyday companion that adapts to her professional and social routines. Boey, who participates in Shanghai, considers the bag’s identity within Balenciaga and her involvement in its anniversary. Photographs and videos connect these personal accounts with the cities, with some participants carrying Hirst editions.
Le City House gives visitors a more detailed view of the bag’s history through a sequence of rooms combining physical exhibits and digital material. Archival designs accompany dated editorials, press clippings, and paparazzi photographs from 2001 to the present. Collectors contribute handwritten notes, outdated technologies, and other possessions their bags have held, documenting their use over time.
Appointment-based services include handle re-lacing, individual charm consultations, custom mirror etching, hand-painted monogramming, leather care, and repair assessments. An online and in-store quiz recommends a Le City style, borrowing the format of early-2000s lifestyle-magazine questionnaires.
The Paris installation runs at 10 Avenue George V from November 10–19. New York’s 110 Greene Street flagship follows from November 18–January 10, while Tokyo’s Aoyama flagship at 5-1-3 Minami Aoyama hosts its edition from November 18–January 5. The Shanghai installation takes place at HKRI Taikoo Hui, 789 West Nanjing Road, from November 24–December 6. Beijing follows at Taikoo Li Sanlitun, 11 Sanlitun Road, from December 11–20. Balenciaga plans further installations at additional locations.
The Damien Hirst editions are available on balenciaga.com and at selected Balenciaga stores. The wider Le City range offers dozens of combinations of silhouette, size, color, and material through the house’s website and stores.
