Bag of the Month: The Balenciaga Le City Bag
Fashion · 15 June 2026
Sarah Pidgeon walks the streets of New York with the Balenciaga Le City Bag.
- Words
- Zue Wei Leong
It can be easy to default to raffia, woven straw, cotton, or canvas during the summer months. But sometimes, summer in the city needs something a little more substantial. For that, we look to the Balenciaga Le City bag. The reliable bag–rendered in lambskin, waxed suede, goatskin, and denim–exudes the right amount of grunge; its original idea by former creative director Nicolas Ghesquière in 2001 was to create a motorcycle bag with a slouchy silhouette and distinct hardware. In the last two decades, Le City bag has achieved It-bag status, carried by a generation of It-girls, including Kate and Ashley Olsen, Nicole Richie, Sienna Miller, Paris Hilton, and the Kardashians.
Now, Balenciaga’s creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli celebrates a new crop of It-girls who are carrying the iconic bag, with a dedicated campaign directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Celine Song. Three one-minute films, shot entirely in Manhattan, sees American actress Sarah Pidgeon–known for her breakout role in portraying Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy in Connor Hine’s FX/Hulu drama series Love Story (2026)–carrying Balenciaga’s versatile Le City bag. Piccioli even creates a burner account to show dedicated behind-the-scenes content from the campaign.
