No other bag in this catalog has been renamed twice. Gianfranco Ferre designed it in 1994 and the house called it Chouchou, the favourite. In 1995 Bernadette Chirac, looking for a gift for the Princess of Wales, handed her one at the opening of the Cezanne exhibition at the Grand Palais, and Diana adopted it so completely that the house rechristened it, briefly, Princesse. By 1996 the name had settled where the cameras had already put it: Lady Dior. The cannage quilting underneath all this is older than the bag, borrowed from the Napoleon III chairs that seated guests at the avenue Montaigne couture shows.
The record keeps one small dispute and one dating quirk. Published references disagree on the build, some counting 130 leather pieces, others 144; the file records both and adjudicates neither. And Dior date codes only began around 1997, so the earliest Lady Diors legitimately carry no code at all - absence on true mid-1990s production is normal, while a code that decodes to before 1997 contradicts the system itself.
The most counterfeited Dior by a wide margin, because fame is the counterfeiter's commissioning brief. The letter charms are where fakes economize: genuine D.I.O.R. charms are heavy, precisely engraved and hang with intent. And no paper settles anything - Dior issues no standalone authenticity card, so a listing leading with the certificate is selling paper, not provenance.
A Dior date code dates and places the bag; it authenticates nothing, and counterfeits carry correct-format codes. Dior issues no standalone authenticity card for its bags, so a listing leading with the certificate is selling paper, not provenance - the paper card carries the style number, which is not a date and not a verdict. Pieces made before about 1997 carry no code at all, and absence on true early production is normal. For any serious purchase, route through a platform authentication program.
Model histories and date-code systems compiled from documented maison history, resale-industry authentication references, and period documentation, cross-checked across independent sources.