Y2K cult bags are back: How millennials and Gen Z turned nostalgia into the year’s hottest luxury trend

Beyond the resale boom, luxury houses themselves are ensuring the Y2K It bag revival burns brighter. 

In 2018, Dior officially relaunched the Saddle, bringing back Galliano’s original designs alongside new variations by Maria Grazia Chiuri. Fendi has kept its Baguette firmly in circulation, celebrating its 25th anniversary with limited-edition reissues in 2022 and fresh collaborations ever since. Louis Vuitton continues to revisit Murakami-era motifs through contemporary collections, while Balenciaga has reintroduced the City (now dubbed the Neo Classic) for a new generation.

These revivals stoke nostalgia for longtime fans while legitimising the silhouettes for younger buyers, reframing them not as relics, but as timeless design icons.

THE VALUE OF VINTAGE

For Fung, vintage pieces deliver both “value per wear” and a character new bags can’t replicate. “Customers appreciate the rarity of the piece, as well as the unique character that comes with well-loved but kept pristine bags,” she said.