Balenciaga and Damien Hirst Patch Up the Le City for Its 25th Anniversary

Balenciaga has brought in Damien Hirst for the Le City's 25th birthday. The house posted the collaboration on Instagram on Tuesday morning, calling it a limited-edition collaboration celebrating 25 years of Le City and featuring Nicole Richie. The pieces were on Balenciaga's US site by Tuesday morning, with prices and an add-to-cart button: Balenciaga's product pages say the collaboration, inspired by Hirst's most iconic works, runs across accessories and ready-to-wear with the house's signature codes.

The bag is the centre of it. Balenciaga's US site lists the Le City in three sizes, and the Medium in three finishes. Black and Dark Burgundy, both $3,750, are covered in embroidered patches, which Balenciaga calls icons artwork. A $3,450 black version is printed with what Balenciaga calls Daisy spot artwork, and a Pop Orange one at $3,590 with a mandala. There's a Small in Petal Pink at $3,250 and, in the men's section, a Large in Army Green at $3,990. The black Medium is Arena lambskin, made in Italy, 38.5 cm long.

Balenciaga

The patches are where the jokes are. Balenciaga's photos show a red heart, a peace-sign hand, a capsule, a green cross that reads WOW, a round blue patch that reads BLNCGA 25 WOW and a green square with Balenciaga's BB logo over the word Damienciaga. The silk Mandala scarf, $575 in pink, orange or blue, has "Damienciaga" printed on its hem.

Balenciaga

The smaller pieces go further from the bag. Balenciaga lists a Le City Pouch On Strap at $1,225, a Le City Micro bag charm at $795 in colours including black, Petal Pink, Love Red and Optic White, and a Snow Globe at $820 with a white dove and silver glitter inside. Highsnobiety, which had the first look on Monday, reported that the first drop is a reworked Triple S sneaker; Balenciaga's US site has the Damien Hirst Triple S.2 on pre-order at $1,290. Balenciaga's search page shows 55 products under Damien Hirst's name.

Balenciaga

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The timing says as much as the bags. Balenciaga is between designers: Kering announced Pierpaolo Piccioli's departure on November 5, and Martine Rose starts on November 16. An anniversary project with an artist doesn't need a creative director's signature, and it keeps the house's best-known bag in the conversation through the gap. The Le City is Nicolas Ghesquière's bag from 2001, and an artist's name is a way to sell the original shape again without redesigning it. What's still unclear is how limited "limited-edition" is, whether every piece is live in every country yet, and what Hirst himself has said: his own Instagram hadn't posted it as of Tuesday morning.