On the First or Classique bag the strap started out at about 24" clip to clip with chunky brass, no weight distributor thingy in F/W '01 & S/S '02.
Then in F/W '02 the strap became 27"-29" long still no weight distributor on the flat brass hardware bags with chunky brass strap clips, but on the Suede bags with pewter hardware they had a thinner clip with hanger-like bale (like today's regular hardware) and a strap weight distributor thingy.
Then in S/S '03 the strap stayed the really long 27"-29" (handcrafted differences) and the hardware continued to be pewter studs, but by FW '03 the strap was cut "short" to the current 18" long clip to clip strap on the First.