The first pre-loved piece I ever fell for was a Dior Saddle. Romantic Flowers print, Galliano era, the kind of thing you see once and then think about at inconvenient moments for weeks. I bought it. I still have the reaction it gave me, which is the whole reason I do what I do now.
The Dior Saddle Bag in Diorissimo Romatic Flowers I fell in love with.
So I'm not exactly neutral on this bag. But neither is the market, which has spent the last few years rediscovering what some of us never stopped knowing: the Saddle is one of the great handbag designs of the last thirty years, and the originals – the ones John Galliano made – are the ones worth owning.
Here's how to buy one properly.
Where the Saddle came from
John Galliano joined Dior in 1996, the first British designer to run the French house, and he turned its attention to accessories in a way it hadn't bothered with before. The Saddle was his first bag for Dior. He designed it in 1999, and it walked in the Spring/Summer 2000 show – a collection thick with denim, equestrian silks and Western references, set to Lauryn Hill.
The shape is exactly what the name says: a horse's saddle, asymmetrical flap, the bold "D" hardware on the strap. It was odd. It was a little ugly in the way the best Y2K things were deliberately ugly, and it was instantly, completely iconic. By the end of 2001 it had driven a roughly 60% rise in Dior's accessories sales. And then Carrie Bradshaw carried one on her way to a date with Aidan, and that was that – pop culture handed it "It bag" status and never took it back.
The silhouette is rumoured to have been inspired by a Helmut Newton photograph, which Galliano never confirmed. I rather like that it stayed a rumour. It suits the bag.
Why the Galliano originals, and not the reissue
Maria Grazia Chiuri brought the Saddle back in 2018, and the reissues are genuinely good. But the Galliano-era originals are a different proposition, for reasons that go beyond nostalgia.
Galliano redesigned the Saddle more than a dozen times across his Dior years, each version pulling from a different cultural reference — newsprint, Rasta colours, the Samourai, denim, the Trotter monogram, the Romantic florals. That's not a product line, it's an archive. Each original is a specific moment in one designer's decade-long run at the house, and that specificity is exactly what collectors and fashion historians now chase.
The value follows. The rare prints – the Newspaper Saddle, the Rasta pieces, the Samourai – carry strong resale value precisely because they can't be remade. A vintage or reissued Saddle in good condition now trades roughly in the €1,000–3,000 range on the secondary market, with the genuinely rare Galliano prints climbing well above that. The Saddle has been shown to retain a large share of its value, depending on condition and rarity – the kind of figure that makes "investment piece" more than a sales phrase.
And then there's the simple fact that an original has the era in it. A 2001 denim Saddle is a 2001 denim Saddle. Nothing made in 2018 can be that.
The prints and versions worth knowing
A quick map, because "Dior Saddle" covers an enormous range:
The monogram (Oblique/Trotter) canvas – the classic Dior jacquard, the most recognisable and the most versatile. A sensible first Saddle.
The Newspaper print – Galliano's print of mock headlines, endlessly referenced, one of the most sought-after originals.
The Rasta – the red, gold and green colourway from around 2004, now a serious collector's piece.
The Samourai – rarer still, prized by people who know exactly what they're looking at.
The denim editions – including the double-strap "speedway" versions, very of-their-moment and very collectible.
The Romantic florals – the soft, hyper-feminine prints that were overlooked for years and are now quietly some of the loveliest things in the archive. I'm biased. I've told you why.
How to buy one well
A few things to hold onto, wherever you buy.
Authentication is not optional with this bag. The Saddle is among the most faithfully faked designs out there, and the Galliano-era pieces especially, because demand outstrips what survives in good condition. Every Saddle at Gibbarosa is verified through Entrupy before it's listed. I won't sell one any other way.
Read the condition honestly. These bags are twenty-odd years old. Some softening, a little patina on the "D" hardware, a faint character to the canvas – that's age, and age is the point. What matters is structural integrity: the flap closure, the strap attachment, the canvas not splitting at the seams. A good listing shows you all of it, flaws included.
Decide what you want the bag to do. A monogram canvas Saddle is wearable forever and goes with everything. A Rasta or a Newspaper original is a collector's object first and an everyday bag second –wonderful, but bought with different intentions. Both are right. Know which one you're making.
And buy the one that does to you what the Romantic Flowers did to me. The Saddle has always been an emotional bag rather than a sensible one. That's not a flaw in the design. It's the entire design.
In the collection at Gibbarosa
We have Galliano-era Dior Saddles in the collection now –authenticated through Entrupy, sourced through Parisian auction houses and trusted partners, and not the sort of thing that lingers once it's listed. You'll find them just below.
The reissue is still in production. The Galliano originals are not, and never will be again. That's the whole case, really.
Image reference: Dior advertisement, own image.
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Every piece at Gibbarosa is pre-loved and authenticated, sourced from Parisian auction houses and trusted French and Italian partners.
