I've been a fan of the Givenchy Antigona bag for years, I've tried it several times but the small size doesn't work out for me. I'm 173cm tall and I've always found the small Antigona is an awkward size on me. If you put it on the shoulders, it just is too bulky; if you wear it in your hands, it's looking a bit too small. But the medium size doesn't suit my lifestyle, I don't need to carry around a laptop, I don't travel a lot and as an everyday bag it's just too big and bulky.
Givenchy came out with a Mini Antigona probably like a year or two ago and I recently bit the bullet and ordered it in the black smooth leather. Right when I opened the box, I knew this was the perfect Antigona size for me. It looks tiny I'm not going to lie, but it's not. It carries basically everything that I had in my Louis Vuitton Speedy B 30 just on a more compact space.
When I looked at the bag more close up and wore it crossbody it definitely reminded me of my Louis Vuitton Alma BB so if you own one or the other and are thinking about adding the second one to your collection, I'm here for you.
Sizing
The Louis Vuitton Alma BB is 23.5cm in width and 17.5cm in height while the depth comes to 11.5cm according to the official website (9.8 x 7.6 x 4.7 inches).
Comparing the Givenchy Mini Antigona, this one is 23cm in width and 19cm in height and 11cm in depth (8.7 x 7.7 x 5.3 inches).
Crossbody Strap
Both of them come with a crossbody strap but while the Alma BB comes with a solid one, the one on the Antigona is adjustable. It has three different settings on each side of the strap so it makes it a lot more convenient and can work for any body shape and height.
The strap drop on the Alma BB measures 57cm, on the Mini Antigona it measures 52cm at the setting it comes with (hooked in at the middle holes of the strap).
While the Louis Vuitton comes with a regular clasp to attach the strap to the bag, Givenchy has created a very special and unique way for the Antigona. There is a little slit in the D-ring of the strap as well as on the D-ring of the bag itself. To connect the strap to the bag you have to put these two slits within each other and voilà .
Material
As most of you probably know, the Louis Vuitton Alma BB comes in several different colours and prints. The one I have here is the Damier Ebene canvas, which means it's not actually leather. It's coated cotton canvas on the actual bag, the strap and the bottom of the bag, as well as the handles are treated leather.
If you prefer an all leather bag, Louis Vuitton offers the Alma BB in Epi Leather as well as Vernis Leather all year around, but also exotic animal skins occasionally (like crocodile for example).
The Givenchy Antigona on the other hand only comes in full leather options. There is two different ones, the smooth Antigona that has calf leather and the grainy ones in goat leather. Just like Louis Vuitton, they do occasionally come out with limited edition versions in snake skin, suede, crocodile skin etc.
Apparently the smooth leather also has a protective layer all over to keep the bag from scratching too easily.
Last Thoughts
I personally think that both make great bags. I find that the Alma BB is a bit easier to dress up because of it's gold hardware and more dressy look it has to it. I wore it to a wedding back in 2016 and it went really nicely with my dress.
The Antigona I find to be a chic and cool bag, it's got more of an edgy vibe to it. I can totally imagine it paired with a black leather jacket and boots. I always feel like a bad b*tch when I wear that bag. To me, it's always going to be a cool girl bag, not so much a formal event type of bag. Overall, the Mini Antigona also has a heavier, bulkier look to it.
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