Celine Nano Belt Bag, Old Vs. New // Quality Difference? Hardware? New Logo?

I really didn't know if I should write a post about this, but after reading up on the PurseForum, people do seem to be interested to know whether their was a change in Phoebe Philo's handbag designs now that Hedi took over Céline.

Luckily, I do own an "old" Céline Nano Belt bag in the colour Light Taupe as well as a "new" one. I purchased the first Belt Bag a few months before Hedi presented his first collection at Celine. I loved the bag so much that I did end up buying another Nano Belt bag in Grey in late 2018. This bag however already had the new CELINE logo that Hedi introduced.

I thought it might be helpful to see what exactly the difference is between the old and new Belt Bags, other than the obvious Logo change. I'm going to let you know if there is any difference in hardware, leather, overall quality etc.
The Bag Itself

As you can see, the bag itself really stayed the exact same. The size is still the same, no changes were made here. Also the back of the bag looks just like it did before, no pockets or anything except for the two D-rings to attach the crossbody strap.

The bottom of the bag also is the same as before, no feet on the bottom, just bare leather. The crossbody strap on each bag has stayed the exact same length and has the exact same amount of holes for you to alter the length as well.

The only thing about the bag that has changed is the obvious logo as well as the embossed writing on the inside of the bag that says "made in Italy".

The old logo was definitely a lot thinner, the letters have more space in between them and there was still the accent on the e. The new logo is a lot thicker and the letters are pushed together. Personally, I think the old one looks more chic, it's toned down and feminine.

For the embossing on the inside, you can also see that the "Made in Italy" is a lot more soft and pretty, on the newer bag it's written in all caps and the font is a lot smaller. You really can't notice it that much and can barely read it.

Leather

Many people say they notice a complete difference in the leather of the bags. I'm going to be completely honest, that's the last thing that I really noticed about the two bags. I don't think it's really that noticeable unless you see the same exact bag (same colour, size, everything) right next to each other.

I tried giving you a close-up shot of the leather on both bags and to be honest, I see no difference. The graining looks the same to me and also both bags are quite matte looking.

Hardware

There is a definite change in the hardware on the Nano Belt bag. Not only is the logo on each clasp different, of course, but also the hardware itself looks a bit different now.

But not everything on the hardware changed though, but I'll go into details about everything for you.

You can see that the hardware on the handbag itself really did not change at all. The D-rings on the bags have nothing engraved onto them. The same goes for the magnetic closure on the bag as well as the flap, both are solid without any engraving.

The actual hardware change was most definitely on the crossbody strap. Not only did the clasp itself change, there were also changes made to the "belt" part of the strap where you put the strap through the holes.

On the left side you can see the new clasp has a rectangular bottom and also the clasp itself looks more circular than it did before. The old clasp has "CÉLINE" engraved on both sides, while the new model has "CELINE" engraved on the bottom part and on the other side it says "PARIS", the top part of the clasp is empty.

Here you can see that the "belt" part of the strap on the new version has "CELINE" engraved on the left and ride side while the old bag has "CÉLINE" engraved on the bottom part instead.

Overall Quality

I personally think that the quality decreased. You obviously wouldn't think that because you're like "Just because the designer changed, why would they change factories, change the way of production or whatever. That doesn't make sense." Well, that does indeed make no sense. But something is up. I don't know what, maybe Hedi saw that people are crazy for the old Phoebe designs now and decided that it would be clever to produce more handbags in less time so that they could sell a lot more handbags a lot faster. Maybe he just doesn't care about the quality of Phoebe's designs so he lets them all through quality control because all the cares about is his designs. I have no clue. All I know is that you can definitely see a difference in the overall quality of the two handbags.

I hope that you can see what I'm talking about but if you look closely at the glazing on the new bag, it looks quite rough and sloppy. If you touch it and run your fingers over it, you can feel that it is indeed rough and even hurts a bit. It doesn't look seamless to me at all, compared to the old bag.

On the old bag, the glazing seems a lot smoother and even and you can't even feel it when you touch the edges.

If I knew it back when I bought my second bag, I'd have tried to hunt down a grey Nano Belt bag with the old Céline logo instead of just buying it right there and then.

So really, if you can find a good condition handbag on the pre-loved market that has the old Logo, definitely buy it instead of getting a new one in the boutique. Be sure to do your research and have the bag authenticated but I think the hassle is worth it. With that amount of money spent on a luxury handbag, you want the quality to be perfect and that's what you deserve when you spent that much.

I really hope I was able to help anyone who was wondering what has changed on the Belt bags. If I didn't answer everything, ask in the comments and I'll answer any other questions.

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