Me and the Lady Dior on the train + pret coffee

This post is specifically designed to help you when scrolling through the resale, preloved luxury sites with identifying a real vintage Lady Dior medium handbag from the period 1995– 1996. I cannot stress VINTAGE enough. Specifically 1995 – A/W 1996. (I know a niche post!) This post will not help you with newer Lady Dior’s. .

If you have an eye on a bag that’s post 1996 A/W – please read this post instead.

If you want a bag post 2008 – please read this post instead.

Dior have subtly changed a lot of style features over the years. What makes a 1995-96 A/W bag authenticate IS NOT THE SAME as what makes a later collection authentic. Authenticating a Lady Dior cannot be done in a one-size fits all, it is not one “these are the 8 things to look out for” article. No, you have to do your homework. My biggest tip is first establish what year your bag was meant to be made (look at the date code), and work backwards from there.

A little Review from me here.

Let’s Go! Get a cup of coffee this is a long one

Contents

1.How the bag is made

2.The leather

3. Cannage Stitching

4.Date Code

5.Feet

6.Zips

Dior Charm

6.Interior label

7.Leather hangtag

8.Size

1. How the bag is made

This bag takes eight hours to make and is handmade, to be clear when I say handmade (the finishing, stitching, detailing, and quality control are done by artisans)

The bag was first designed in 1994 by Gianfranco Ferre. In 1995 it was gifted to Princess Diana and debuted on her arm. A star was born.

The Lady Dior is made up of 144 individual elements. (the hardware by itself comprises of 43 separate metal parts).

Therefore, expect serious craftsmanship. This begins with how the bag is formed.

The bag is made up of separate pieces of leather stitched together. Note: where possible counterfeiters love to cut corners to ultimately save costs. They’ll try and get away with continuous material they can just fold over, or just double stitch over the top to give the illusion of cut pieces. You need to really examine how this bag is made – it will seriously help you.

Look the bag coming together - heaven!

2. The leather and cannage stitching

The first Lady Dior’s were made of lambskin leather. Insanely soft to touch (even after 30 years). It does scratch easy though. If your bag doesn’t feel soft – take that as a warning. But, I’d caveat that by saying if the bag is 25 years old + but has not been taken care of, the leather might be a bit dry and not as soft as it could be.

I’m pretty sure satin came next, and then suede.

3. The Cannage stitching.

The famous cannage stitching is steeped in the brands history. It was created to reflect the pattern of the back of Napoleon III cane rattan weave chairs. When Dior would show their latest designs, guests would sit on these chairs.

The colour of the stitching matches the colour of the bag perfectly.

The bag is five squares high. They are 3cm x 3cm. ( I don’t call it a rhombus or diamond as it’s a square – 90 degree angles J

The bag is five squares wide with 1.5cm of a square either side.

Lady Dior 95/96 Side Profile (no second row of stitching at the bottom)

Turn the bag on its side and the bag is 3 squares deep (if you measure from the bottom of the bag)

Inspect all the stitching around the whole bag and interior – it is faultless.

I would say the ‘puffiness’ of the quilting has gone down over the years. It shouldn’t have after 10 – 15 years … but 30 years in is acceptable. (I think)

What makes this stand out as a 1995/96 bag?

Hot Tip (to spot a fake from this period) Notice the extra line of stitching at the bottom of the bag. This is because the original Lady Dior medium bag was just under 1cm bigger in 1995/96. From S/S of 1997 - this line of stitching and extra 0.9cm has gone.

Lady Dior 2008 (on top), Lady Dior 1995/96 on the bottom

How the bag changed from 1995/6 - 1997

1995 - 1996

Dimensions 24 x 21 x 11cm

1997 Dimensions

Dimensions: 24 x 20 x 11 cm [1997 Dimensions – and have stayed the same to this day – Dior made the bag shorter by 0.9mm-1cm]

Lady Dior on the left is 1995/6 , the Lady Dior on the right is 2008.
What is unhelpful and I am sorry, the 2008 bag is stuffed, vs the 95/96 isn’t hence why it looks a lot smaller. The 95/96 has also lost its ‘puffiness’.

4. Date Code

My bag does not have a date code. It is a 1995 -1996 vintage Lady Dior. (Yes 30 years old!!) I must stress most resale Lady Dior’s absolutely do have date codes. It’s believed Dior introduced date codes in S/S 1997. Therefore, only a select few bags left on the market won’t have a date code.

It will however be stamped with a MADE IN ITALY

Pay attention to the leather tab. Notice the top right corner is clipped, and is not a sharp right angle,

Hardware (Sherlock Holmes here).

5. Feet

My bag does not have feet on the bottom of the bag. Again, this indicates a vintage Lady Dior and is nothing to worry about. I have studied countless press photos of Princess Diana carrying this bag in 1996 and there are no feet in any photos. (see below) I’m 99.99% certain Dior brought in feet in their A/W 1996 collections, Or S/S 1997 Collection.

My homework to come to this conclusion is roughly 3 hours trawling Getty images, old magazine collections and Vogue Runway, just to look at the feet on Lady Dior Bags. I have seen numerous Getty image pictures dated in Spring/Summer of 1996 and the bag does not have feet. But, I have seen a Large Croc Lady Dior in a Getty image carried by Princess Diana dated November 1996. This bag features feet.

Then I looked at a bag that was being sold at Christie’s Auction that pre dates 1997 [meaning no date code]. It featured feet but had old stitching circa 1995-1996 era. Not the newer S/S 1997 stitching.

-Meaning voila A/W 1996 they must have come in??? If anyone’s Grandparents worked at Dior during this time period - please do let me know and give me further insider knowledge.

Embed from Getty Images

These photos were taken on 06 March, 1996.

Embed from Getty Images

These photos were taken on 26 November, 1996. (notice the feet on the bag)

Lady Dior mini-python circa 1995-96 // Open for Vintage

6. Zips

Lampo manufactured the zips for Dior during this time period. These zips are the original zips that should be on your bag. I wrote to Lampo in Italy. They came back to me and were extremely helpful. However, the style of Lampo zip did change throughout the 90s.

Bag Closure Zip

The bags closure zip features lampo on the back and a $ sign on the zipper teeth.

Inside Pocket Zip Pull

Zip Pull and Zip Dior Charm

This zip then has a pull – this is made up of a series of 4 gold toned loops.

The loop which attaches the charm to the zip is key ring design, and different to the other 3 gold toned loops.

Hot Tip (it’s all in the tiny detail)
Notice the line on the 4th loop which attaches to the charm. Counterfeiters miss this!

The Oval CD attached to this feels very, very, heavy.

The oval is framed by textured metal. (it almost looks like its shimmering). The same for the CD. This is a tiny, tiny, detail, but the CD isn’t smooth – but textured.

Hot Tip - Fakes make the tail of the C too short.

This is the same for CD printed on the eyelets.

The CD should be crisp and not thick and smudgy.

Hardware

4 Gold Rings that attach the handle to the bag

These are fixed into position at the top of the bags gold hardware, (would we say these are called grommets?)

They have tiny holes at the back of them. If you push a needle into these it activates a spring mechanism which opens. This is in place so you can take the handles off the bag should you need to clean them or repair them. Fakes are bad at a) putting these holes in, b) if they put them in they do not work properly.

Screw heads

These are mock screw heads and not actual screws

DIOR CHARM KEYCHAIN

The Dior Charm is not attached to the gold toned O loop hardware which connects the handle and is not on a pivot like in later collections. I believe they started doing this from Autumn /Winter 1997 onwards.

It is on a keychain ring.

Again, I have studied two photos of the late and magnificent Princess Diana from 1996 carrying the bag and you can see the keychain ring rests on top of the hardware as opposed to fixed into it and through it.

Further information: In 2014 Christies Auction House sold a 1997 (Autumn/Winter) Lady Dior and the loop was fixed into position – like it is on bags today.

The 8 loop attaching the letter charms to the keyring,

7. The leather hangtag (the oval disc of leather behind keychain ‘O’)

The ‘O’ fits perfectly behind the leather hangtag. The stitching outlines the disc perfectly.

It reads:

Christian Dior PARIS.

A few places online say this should say Christian Dior only. This is wrong. Dior changed this on various styles through the years adding ‘Made in Italy’ to later bags. Definitely, in 95’,96’ and 97’ it said Christian Dior Paris.

6. The Interior Label

The interior leather tag has Christian Dior PARIS printed in gold and MADE IN ITALY embossed on the back with no colour.

The tag should not have sharp crisp edges they should be clipped off. They are not properly curved. This didn’t happen till the mid 00’s

The edges should be finished with black edging paint.

The top line of stitching fixing the tag to the bag should match the bags interior lining and thread colour. In my bag the stitching is red, and is comprised of 13 stitches, the red stitches at the edge of the tab go UNDER the black stitching not over.

The remaining three lines of stitching will match the bags exterior thread colour/leather colour.

The tag will not be sewn down on all edges. It will only be attached via the top row of stitching.

The leather tag will be perfectly placed in the middle of the pocket.

8. The interior lining

The lining is red. The bottom lining is a separate panel of material stitched in place. It is not just one continuous piece of material.

It is cannage stitching and the red thread is shiny set against the more matte lining material.

It is eight squares wide. CD is stitched into the centre of the second square down, second square across, and then repeated four squares along.

Four square down, four across – CD is stitched upside down, and then the same and then repeated four squares along.

The pattern then starts again one row down..

Please remember: I’m not an expert…this is just what I discovered on my research journey. Please get your bag authenticated by a reputable reseller, and also add in your own research to be 100% certain

I hope this helped. This bag is amazing and a must have for anyone who loves handbags.

How to Spot a Real Vintage Lady Dior Medium 1995 - 1996

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