Lady Dior: My Unicorn Bag

In September 1995, France’s First Lady gifted Lady Diana Dior’s Chouchou bag. In November, in Buenos Aires, Lady Di was seen wearing the bag as she stepped off her flight.

From that moment on, the Chouchou became Lady Diana’s go-to bag. Soon, Dior renamed the Chouchou after Lady Di, and it became known as the Lady Dior. 

Lady Di requested a navy blue version of the iconic Dior bag to match her eyes. 

Did you know?

Iconic cannage pattern 

The Dior carnage pattern seen on many Dior pieces takes inspiration from the Napoleon-III-style-chairs in the Dior atelier. 

Charms

Delicate “Dior” lucky charms – these pay homage to the special charms that Monsieur Dior carried with him everywhere 

Sizes

The Lady Dior is available in 5 sizes, the micro, mini, small, medium and large. My favourite is the small size – it’s the perfect size to wear on the weekends.

Materials

The most common material is the cannage-quilted lambskin, and this is the material on my wishlist. 

The Lady Dior also comes in canage-quilted grained calfskin, which has greater durability as it is less likely to scratch compared to smoother leathers. However, I prefer the sleek effect that the lambskin provides. 

The cannage-quilted patent and perforated calfskin are other choices, which I feel work best as evening bags. 

Of course, exotic skins have also graced the Lady Dior blank canvas. From Python to Ostrich to Lizard, there’s a leather to match your outfit and occasion. 

The BEE

There are many potential meanings behind the bee. One is that it represents Dior’s love for gardening. However, my favourite theory pertains to the seamstresses, who Dior often referred to as “his bees”. They would work hard and consistently to create his beautiful dresses, which sometimes took 500 hours to make. The bee represents hard work and dedication and serves as a motivation to keep going and that GOOD THINGS TAKE TIME. 

The LUCKY 8

Monsieur Dior’s lucky number: 8. Indeed,

• Maison Dior was on Avenue Montaigne, in the 8th arrondissement
• He owned 8 studios
• The “New Look” clothing represented the female body in the number 8 

The STAR: BELIEVE IN YOUR DESTINY

I am sure you have heard the story of Dior’s star a number of times, but it’s a magical story which is worth recounting. Legend has it that on the evening of 18 April 1946, Monsieur Dior was walking on the cobbled streets in Paris and almost tripped. The object on the floor was a star, opposite the British Embassy, and suddenly Dior was inundated with many memories. He took the star to indicate the path he was to follow; to set up his own fashion house. 

Dior’s shoes have stars on the soles, a nod to how Monsieur Dior founded the Maison, and a reminder to BELIEVE IN YOUR DESTINY. 

Did you know?

The Lady Dior becomes a blank canvas for artists to unleash their visions and create unique, innovative and magical pieces to be enjoyed by the lucky bag owners. 

One of my favourite Lady Dior Art pieces are those imagined by Lina Iris Viktor, a British-Liberian conceptual artist. The tactile surface of the bags combines a base layer of flora from the “Dark Continents” with 24-carat gold from the “Constellations” series. This creates enticing bags with a rich heritage encompassing African, Egyptian, aboriginal and pre-Columbian. 

The smallest, beautiful ocean blue bag, evokes a starry sky, whilst the larger emerald green bag is reminiscent of a luscious forest. Despite the feelings evoked, both bags have an landscape base layer, and are adorned with gold embellishment hardware from stars to insects to plants to swirls and talismans. 

The elephant in the room. The Lady Dior bag has been my unicorn bag for a number of years now. I had the opportunity to purchase the small Lady Dior in Angellic pink in July 2019. However, I was waiting for a slightly more pink shade of pink, and didn’t purchase it. 

Sillily enough, I didn’t write down the exact name of the colour, and never saw it again. Then, lockdown hit, and from the Summer of 2020 every weekend for a good few months my best friend Julia and I would have brunch and walk into a Dior boutique for a few months asking for a small Lady Dior in the pink shade! Low and behold, as it was a seasonal piece, there was no such pink. I continued to hold out and wait for a magical pink shade to appear again.

Back in November 2021, I visited the Dior Harrods boutique and my SA seemed to know all of the shades of Dior colours off the tip of his tongue! It was as though he had memorised them and was rolling them off like the letters of the alphabet. I showed him the photo from July 2019 and right away he was able to name the exact shade – Angelic Pink! He then was able to source the last ever bag from that collection… it was in Moscow! 

I couldn’t fly to Moscow, and I am yet to purchase my Unicorn Bag! However, the Dior experience I had at Harrods was truly exceptional and eye-opening. I’m keeping my fingers and toes crossed for a similar shade of pink to appear in the coming months and when the Unicorn Bag is added to my collection, there certainly is a story to tell.