One file per model: documented history, construction, hardware, and the date-code doctrine. No prices, no listings feed — the file reads the same in ten years, and a date code is not authentication.
| MODEL | INTRODUCED | WHY IT MATTERS |
|---|---|---|
| Chanel 2.55 (Original) | 1955 | The bag that started the modern handbag |
| Chanel Classic Flap (Medium) | c. 1983 | THE Chanel |
| Chanel 2.55 Reissue (226) | 2005 | The fiftieth-anniversary return of the original |
| Louis Vuitton Keepall (55) | c. 1924 | The bag that ended the trunk era |
| Louis Vuitton Speedy (30) | c. 1930 | Born in 1930 as the Express |
| Louis Vuitton Speedy (25) | c. 1959 | The Audrey Hepburn size |
| Louis Vuitton Neverfull (MM) | 2007 | The 2007 tote that became the default luxury bag of its era |
| Hermès Kelly (28) | c. 1935 | Born the Sac à dépêches around 1935 (some histories say 1928) and renamed in 1977 for the princess who used it to shield her pregnancy from photographers in a 1956 photograph seen around the world |
| Hermès Birkin (30) | 1984 | Sketched on an Air France flight in 1984 after Jane Birkin's basket spilled |
| Gucci Bamboo 1947 (Small) | 1947 | Born of postwar material shortage |
| Gucci Jackie 1961 (Medium) | c. 1961 | Born in the 1950s as the Fifties Constance and remade by fame in 1961, when Jacqueline Kennedy was photographed using hers to shield herself from paparazzi |
| Dior Lady Dior (Medium) | 1995 | The bag that was renamed twice |
| Dior Saddle | 1999 | Galliano's equestrian provocation for the Spring 2000 show became the defining Y2K it-bag, went quiet for a decade, and returned in 2018 to open the archive-revival era the whole industry then copied |
| Prada Vela Backpack | 1984 | The bag that made industrial fabric a luxury object: Miuccia Prada's 1984 nylon backpack, sold unbranded in a marketplace of gilded leather, took a decade to become an it bag and then rewrote what the word meant |
| Prada Re-Edition 2005 | 2019 | The revival that led the Y2K wave: the discontinued mini hobo reissued in 2019 with a chain, a pouch, and archival year names |
| Prada Galleria | 2007 | The structured saffiano flagship, named for the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II arcade where Mario Prada opened the first shop in 1913 |
| Balenciaga First | c. 2001 | The bag Balenciaga's executives rejected: shown on the Fall 2001 runway as the Le Dix Motorcycle Lariat, saved by Kate Moss, first produced as a run of 25 |
| Balenciaga City | c. 2002 | The definitive it bag of the 2000s |
| Balenciaga Le City | 2024 | The 2024 revival, launched back into Kate Moss's hands: more polished and less punk than the original, and the fourth dormant-years comeback in this site's files |
The file fills in one maison at a time. Greyed files are open but not yet written.
BagFile records what was made: the model, its documented introduction, its construction, and the date-code system that places an individual bag in time. Maisons publish far less history than they manufacture, so approximate dates are marked "c." and the file cites what can be documented. Model files anchor on history rather than this season's catalog, which keeps a page for an in-production model as permanent as one for a discontinued reference. And the doctrine on every page: a date code is not authentication — it is where inspection begins.