GUCCI × BALENCIAGA Small Hourglass Bag

This Hourglass bag is from the "Gucci Invades Balenciaga Laboratory" series. The designer uses GUCCI's classic GG Supreme canvas to interpret the Balenciaga iconic hourglass bag silhouette. The most representative design elements of the two brands are intertwined and penetrated. One bag has two brand attributes, allowing you to get double the happiness when you buy one single item.

The Hacker Project

To celebrate the brand's centenary, GUCCI unveiled its first joint work with BALENCIAGA, "The Hacker Project" , at the "Gucci Aria" fashion show in April 2021. The two creative directors, Alessandro Michele and Demna Gvasalia, started from the concept of "infiltration and invasion", swapped and transplanted the most representative design elements of their respective brands, and conducted an in-depth interpretation of the concepts of originality, forgery and appropriation in the fashion industry.

Balenciaga AW16

Gucci Aria

Balenciaga Hourglass

Gucci Aria

The world of fashion can be a simple exploration. Creativity is the courage to imagine. There are no boundaries and no enemies. —— Alessandro Michele

The hourglass bag with the GG monogram gives people the illusion of walking on a film set, as if the bag maker accidentally added the wrong formula and unexpectedly presented you with a new bag that is both retro and avant-garde. For fashionistas, buying a bag means having the designs of two first-line brands at the same time, double the logo and double the happiness.

The Hacker Project Commercial

· GG Supreme canvas ·

From the appearance, this bag has all the design elements of the Balenciaga hourglass bag, from the arched handles to the curved base , and even the metal buckle of the letter B is copied exactly, but it makes people think it is a Gucci bag at first glance, which must be attributed to the highly recognizable GG Supreme monogram canvas.

The classic GUCCI double G logo was born in 1961. It comes from the initials of the brand's founder Guccio Gucci . After repeated interpretations of fashion every season, it has become the brand's eternal label symbol. Another element on the GG Supreme canvas, the "diamond pattern", can be traced back to the 1930s . It draws inspiration from the concept of regular repetition in the rationalist era and is one of Gucci's oldest decorative patterns.

Left: Men's shoes and handbags displayed in the GUCCI Paris boutique in 1972.
Right: GG print dress on the GUCCI autumn and winter show in 1973.

The retro GG pattern and the brass B Logo from Balenciaga interpret the fusion and collision of diverse styles. After opening the bag, there is another surprise. The fabric lining of the bag is printed with Balenciaga's iconic diagonal logo , which suddenly brings us back to Balenciaga's street fashion aesthetic universe.

Hourglass silhouette

Back to the bag shape itself, the Hourglass bag is a bag launched by Balenciaga in the autumn and winter of 2019. Creative director Demna Gvasalia extended the iconic Basque-Waist waist silhouette created by the brand founder Cristóbal Balenciaga from fashion to accessories, transforming the graceful figure of women into the lines of the bag. The architectural outline reminds people of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, making the bag romantic.

Left: Cristóbal Balenciaga fashion works in the 1950s
Right: Balenciaga 2021 Fall/Winter Haute Couture Collection

The bag combines the two geometric elements of trapezoid and arc , and the naturally extended lines have both elegance and sophistication. The narrow trapezoidal structure at the top and wide at the bottom is conducive to the stability of the bag, and the inward-retracted side design echoes the arched arc of the bottom of the bag and the semi-circular handle. The dome-like arc design at the bottom not only reduces wear and tear, but also makes the bag look particularly upright.

The vintage brass B Logo buckle is the most eye-catching decorative element on the bag. The cowhide ring fixes it to the old-fashioned letter ring, adding a sense of agility, and the double-line engraved lines delicately outline the B letter logo.

· How do I carry this bag? ·

The cylindrical handle is delicate and smooth, neutralizing the sharpness of the corners of the bag. The shoulder strap buckle and the top handle share the same starting position, and the connection also forms a stable triangular structure. The detachable shoulder strap can be carried by hand or crossbody, and the length can be adjusted at will. The Balenciaga logo is engraved on one side of the oval buckle.

With the shoulder strap attached, the Hourglass becomes a neat shoulder bag with a slightly casual style, or you can let the shoulder strap hang naturally and carry it with one hand, which is also very handsome.

What can this bag hold?

The bag uses very little hardware, and is made of lightweight and durable canvas, weighing less than 500 grams . The back pocket of the bag is just big enough to hold an iPhone 11 Pro-sized phone, making it very convenient to take and put.

There is no interlayer pocket except for a zippered inner pocket, making the storage process clearer. We put a wallet, a pair of gloves, an iPhone X, as well as a card holder, lipstick, perfume, keys, necklaces and other items in the bag, and there is still about one-third of the space to spare, which is a relatively large capacity model among handbags of the same size.