Is there a greater love story than Mary-Kate and her wine-stained Balenciaga City Bag?

L&rsquo;HISTOIRE explores fashion history moments you should know, from what actors wore on a red carpet to celebrities who made cameos on the runway. Some are unsung, and some are better known. Each is part of the fabric of today&rsquo;s fashion world, be it barrier breakers or culture makers.
In 2001, <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion-week/balenciaga-fall-2025-haute-couture-collection-looks-demna-gucci" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Balenciaga&rsquo;s</a> creative director <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion-week/louis-vuitton-spring-summer-2025-pfw-runway-looks" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nicolas Ghesqui&egrave;re</a> introduced the Le Dix Motorcycle Lariat, a slouchy, lightweight carryall designed with soft leather, minimal hardware, and a lived-in feel. At the time, the fashion world was enamored with structured, boxy handbags covered in flashy logos, so the Motorcycle bag was seen as too understated and unpolished. Buyers dismissed it, leaving Ghesqui&egrave;re&rsquo;s design at risk of never making it to production.
Balenciaga eventually produced about 25 prototypes for the runway, where they quickly caught the attention of models&mdash;and most famously, <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/young-kate-moss-90s-style-runway" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kate Moss</a>. According to fashion lore, Moss discovered the bag during a studio visit and immediately claimed one for herself. When she was later spotted carrying the prototype, it sparked instant buzz and overwhelming demand. Balenciaga soon green-lit full production, and the City bag was born.

Getty Images.

The original design, dubbed the City, featured a relaxed rectangular shape. It was soon joined by variations like the squarer Velo, the roomier Work, and the aptly named Part Time. Other iterations followed&mdash;the Town, the Polly, the Mini Pom Pom, the sleek Envelope, and the skinny Twiggy&mdash;each with subtle distinctions beloved by collectors. While the first version came in classic brown and black, Balenciaga quickly branched out into every color and finish imaginable: hot pink, lime, suede, animal hide, stripes, prints, even graffiti.
The bag accompanied the arms of every It girl&mdash; from <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/nicole-richie-y2k-fashion-style-looks-paris-hilton">Nicole Richie</a>, <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/beauty/paris-hilton-perfume-iconic-interview">Paris Hilton</a>, and the <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/mary-kate-and-ashley-olsen-twins-movies-fashion-full-house">Olsen twins</a>. Its versatility encouraged its use in any form, giving the girls a reliable bag they can take anywhere from the gym to the red carpet. Mary-Kate Olsen famously flaunted her mint green City bag almost every day, from 2004 to 2016.

balenciaga wine stained city bag

It&rsquo;s incredible that she could match 12 years' worth of outfits with a mint green bag.
Her interview with W Magazine describes the bag as &ldquo;originally mint green, but it&rsquo;s so dingy, covered with stains, pen marks and even a chewed-up piece of gum, that it looks almost gray," Olsen said. &ldquo;It explains my life.&rdquo; Pressed to elaborate, the 19-year-old was quick to remark that she was &ldquo;just messing,&rdquo; and that she simply meant she tends to wear things out.&nbsp;

However, on The Purse Forum, early fans described the bag as &ldquo;perfectly broken in&rdquo; and tried to achieve similar wear patterns. There were threads dedicated to Olsen&rsquo;s City Bag. Young fashion students, downtown NYC girls, and bloggers alike began romanticizing her lived-in and authentic look. Tumblr-era fashion blogs pinned Mary-Kate&rsquo;s bag as a badge of authenticity and anti-mainstream cool.
In modern influencer culture, that attitude has been reinterpreted&mdash;sometimes sincerely, sometimes ironically. Fashion creators have attempted tongue-in-cheek reproductions of Mary‑Kate Olsen&rsquo;s scarred City Bag by pouring wine (or even cracking eggs or torching leather) to manufacture the distressed &ldquo;Olsen look&rdquo;.&nbsp;
But where Olsen&rsquo;s wear was organic, the new imitations felt staged, as they echo a larger tension in fashion today between aesthetic authenticity and the pressure to perform it. The &ldquo;Olsen look&rdquo; can&rsquo;t quite be manufactured. Rather, it has to be lived.

<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">The City Bag has only increased in resale value and is arguably one of the most popular designer bags over the past two years. Olsen&rsquo;s version is frequently cited as one of the most iconic handbags of the <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/influential-fashion-designers-2000s-alexander-mcqueen-marc-jacobs-zac-posen" style="letter-spacing: 0px;">2000s</a><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">.
Balenciaga eventually relaunched Le City in 2024, blending archival design with modern finishes and celebrating the bag&rsquo;s legacy, proving its enduring relevance and cementing its place in fashion as both relic and renaissance.

L'HISTOIRE: Mary-Kate Olsen's 2004 Wine-Stained City Bag

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