Last week, we observed a slightly modified Yves Saint Laurent Cabas ChYc Bag had just popped up on the Nordstrom web site as the Saint Laurent Paris Cabas Classique, and it seemed as though we all knew what kind of changes we could expect for the beloved Cabas ChYc, at least for the season ahead. The big wasn’t quite as tall, and as a commenter noted, the manage bales had been switched from ovals to squares. No doubt about it, that was a different bag, if only slightly different. All was solved, except it wasn’t.
Yesterday morning, the bag above, known as the Saint Laurent Paris The Cabas showed up on Net-a-Porter. (It’s actually still provided as Yves Saint Laurent, but I’m betting that’s simply a biproduct of the branding chaos that Hedi Slimane hath wrought.) This bag is much a lot more clearly influenced by the minimal accessories aesthetic that Slimane hopes to install at Saint Laurent (if his first original bag is any indication) than the Cabas Classique, with the smooth, semi-structured leather and missing stitched panels on the front of the bag. Slimane also added a luggage tag, which seems to be a requirement for every bag these days.
I’m still plenty suspicious of Slimane and his tactics, but this Cabas freshen is much a lot more like what I was intending to see him do to the brand’s accessories. It’s still a Cabas, but light years a lot more modern. but still, isn’t the Y logo a tad…problematic? and do these changes speak to you, or are you already looking elsewhere for your future handbags? Do both bags need to exist on the same marketplace, or would this version have been a modest enough re-imagining to placate customers? If you’re into this one, you can pick up the medium version for $2,695 by means of Net-a-Porter. (Price increase ahoy!)
NAP is also carrying a small version with a carry strap, below, for $2,350.