A Balenciaga City Nano Review — ha-na
Quite some time ago I’ve purchased the Balenciaga City Nano in Light Green from Luisaviaroma. I was so torn between this one and the Mini City in Dark Mink, but in the end I’ve decided to go for this one cause it was just more fun. I needed a splash of colour every now and then, and this bag gave me my fix. Plus tiny micro bags are my absolute favourite. Andrea Cheng wrote a really great article about micro bags and even its history (link). To quote a brilliant passage from her,
Mục lục
With a tiny purse, it can be liberating to be unburdened by the weight of catchalls crammed with weeks-old receipts or abandoned tubes of lipsticks (or at least that’s the case with mine and, evidently, Birkin’s). Throw a cross-body silhouette into the mix, and its empowering hands-free feature promotes mobility. Freedom.
I went through a phase where I just wanted to bring everything I possibly could in my handbag and that was super short-lived. My shoulders were constantly hurting and I honestly felt like I was packing to leave somewhere with all of my unnecessary junk. Smaller bags are super liberating and I’m glad I got the Balenciaga City Nano.
So, what fits inside the Balenciaga City Nano?
This is quite an important question. When I first saw it, it did look tiny- but it’s definitely not an impossibly tiny bag. Anyways, I accepted the size quite fast, but the question remains. This is a nano bag after all, how much could it have possibly fit? Truth be told, not a lot but definitely more than I thought it would. It fits all my essentials and it’s still quite roomy for little things. To be fair, I don’t often carry a lot of things. My essentials are just my card holder, my phone, a pen, and maybe a lip product (which also fits in the pocket of my jacket/pants). If I’m going to work – my work badge and if I’m not going out with my boyfriend, my keys.
I still think it’s quite a tiny bag if you want to fit more than just these. But, I think you can still try and push more things in. I tried adding, on top of my essentials, my sunglasses (or at least its case), but it was way too difficult to jam in. I suppose if you have a thin card holder it’ll work, but it definitely wouldn’t work with thicker cardholders/smaller wallets. Also, if you have a medium sized wallet, I honestly don’t think you can fit anything else in as it’ll take up the entire space.
Will an iPhone 11 Pro Max fit in the Balenciaga Nano?
In response to Dhel’s comment below, I think the iPhone 11 Pro Max has a good chance of fitting into the Balenciaga Nano. Though I don’t have an 11 Pro Max at hand, I took the phone’s measurements (link) and compared it to the two closest things I have at home. A calculator and a promotional lookbook I received from Gucci. Pretty random, but it has more or less the same measurements.
As you can see from above, the Gucci lookbook does fit in but there’s not much room left to fit. The 11 Pro Max is a lot thinner than this lookbook but that gives you somewhat of a comparison as to what the bag will look like in case it’s a bit fuller. The calculator on the other hand resembles the iPhone 11 Pro Max a little bit more and it fits in super easily on its own (I made a video but for some reason it wouldn’t upload 😞 , I’ll try again later).
I can imagine that it if the bag is a bit full you’d have to still jam it in a little bit, but other than that it has a good chance that it’ll fit in just fine. Also, depending on where you are, most of the retailers I talked about here offers free returns up to 14 or 30 days. Might be handy in case you want to try it at home but still have the option to return it!
sizing of the balenciaga city nano & how it looks
I’ve always felt like the sizing of the Balenciaga bags are a bit off. The medium can sometimes look okay, but then when I hold it in person I feel like it’s like literally so big. I feel like the small looks a bit like it’s not sure whether it wants to be a big bag or a small bag. And, I find that the mini is also quite big for a ‘mini’ bag. The nano on the other hand – it’s objectively a super small bag, but in photos it looks like a mini. Personally, I’ve always found the sizing a bit confusing.
Anyways, after deciding to get the nano after all – I found that they’re admittedly small, but they don’t look incredibly small. I think they’re quite proportionate to my figure and I honestly don’t think they look that small in person or in photos. The more you fit in it, the bigger/puffier it looks.
Would I recommend it?
If you’re a light packer then definitely yes. It’s such a fun bag and I feel super carefree carrying only the bare essentials. I really like how it goes with my outfits (even in light green) and I definitely prefer this one over the mini size. I feel like it’s more proportional to my body size and height. So far I don’t have concerns over how this bag will last me or how it will age with me and my style over the coming years. It’s fun for now and I don’t see any reason why I won’t use it again in the future. I’ll let you know if I change my mind.
• Leather quality and general wear and tear?
So far it’s been great, but I haven’t had this bag for that long and given the quarantine I’ve barely given it some proper usage. I do think the Balenciaga bags can withstand the daily wears and tears if you’re also a bit more careful with them. But, I do have concerns over the colour fading (see here, here, or here). I won’t worry about it now, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. My Balenciaga City Medium in Black has not faded since 2017, but I do have that bag in Black Calfskin and not the regular Lambskin, so I’m not sure if that plays a factor.
I will update this post when I do have more updates 🙂
• Balenciaga City Mini vs. Nano – which should you get?
I don’t have the mini city, so I can’t objectively answer. But, style wise, I do like the nano better again because of how it looks. I still think the mini looks a bit big on the body, but that’s just my personal opinion. Here’s a good comparison on YouTube if you’re interested to know more.
Where you can get the nano bags
*please note that these are affiliate links, but I am in no way sponsored to write this article.
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There you have it. I hope this article helped and I hope you enjoyed it. As I’m an avid user of tiny bags, you can see more of these articles here. Let me know if you have any other questions ♡
x
Hana
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