The story of the classic 2001 Flat Brass First.....

Here it is. I have the photos saved.

attachment.php


attachment.php
 
Beaux, it's just called Balenciaga Paris. It's from 1996, Thames & Hudson, by Pamela Golbin. The text is mainly focused on press cuttings and the book's production was apparently co-directed by Nicolas Ghesquiére. It's really interesting. Looking trough it you can really see how other designers have been inspired by Balenciagas designs. Don't buy it for the pics though.

Oh and chloeglamour, you are right; Nicolas Ghesquiére IS a genius!

This is how it looks

^^Thanks for the info Livia1 - I looked on amazon and a used copy is going for $50.00 - oh well.
 
thanks for posting, I find this very fascinating!
So does this mean that there were only 30 made in total? And that the ones that TPFers have been able to get a hold of are one of only 30 originals?
 
thanks for posting, I find this very fascinating!
So does this mean that there were only 30 made in total? And that the ones that TPFers have been able to get a hold of are one of only 30 originals?

^^That's what I was wondering too!? I really don't think they're are that many of them out there - that goes for any 2001 - 2002 Balenciaga bag.
 
^^ Interesting theory...

I don't think that there's only 30 ever produced right? Maybe 30 is just the magic number, the number Nicolas decided to hand out to the celebs and fashionistas.
 
^^ Interesting theory...

I don't think that there's only 30 ever produced right? Maybe 30 is just the magic number, the number Nicolas decided to hand out to the celebs and fashionistas.

^^I don't know. Back when they first sold I think they were only sold at Barney's or Bergdorf's, right? BNY wasn't even around yet. It's not like people even knew or wanted Balenciaga bags back in 2001.

Last year Balenciaga made a re-issue of their famous "Flat Brass Hobo" (the other early b-bag flat brass style) - this time around I think BNY got ONE ruby, ONE marine and three charbons and 3 blacks (if I'm remembering correctly). That's only 8 besace in the USA that I know of. NM or Barney's didn't get them (in RH) so that's a pretty low production number. Back in 2001 I'm sure the production was something closer to that.

edit to add: Years ago when I purchased a Chloe Edith I got on the waiting list as soon as I saw the runway photo (later sold it as it weighed 5 tons ugh) - anyway I called my NM and was put down for one of 2 they were getting. It was the same story every other NM I called: they were only getting 2 or 3 bags (if) and they were all pre-sold for the most part a couple weren't getting them at all. That was for a very hot bag at the time and if you add up all the NM that had them let's say only 50 Chloe Ediths for all NM stores, well that's not so much. So it's totally possible that the first run of flat brass Balenciaga bags were pretty small and could be 30 to 50 bags total! gulp.
 
Last edited: