Bag Review: Givenchy Antigona Medium Metal Edge in Hazel + Spot A Fake Givenchy Antigona

Call me biased, but the best whatever-special-occasion gift for me is a luxury handbag. Because it's so precious, from the feel down to the scent (especially if it's pure leather) and it's so fine, from the design down to the details. Luxury bags ain't called such for nothin'!

If you're going to celebrate a milestone or any special occasion in your life this month or in the next few months and you are considering purchasing a luxury bag, specifically Givenchy Antigona, then you're in for a treat. I am going to review mine today. :)

Antigona is one of the brand's most famous handbag styles along with Pandora and Nightingale. It was first seen on A-lister celebrities and supermodels, particularly Miranda Kerr, thus it earned the title "Supermodel Bag". Since then, Antigona's rise to stardom became unstoppable-everyone wanted one and it is always flying off the shelves even until now-I asked a friend to buy me one in Paris last November of 2014, but it was always sold out and the new stocks were already reserved even before they arrived in the stores. :p

I digress. Antigona is a modern twist to the doctor's bag: It's sharp, stylish, and unique, yet it remains minimalist and sophisticated. It's a corporate woman's handbag in my opinion because it screams "I mean business", don't you think? :)

The standard style for Givenchy Antigona are the block colors and they come in different textures such as pebbled, glossy, matte, smooth, patent, and lately, rubberized. Sometimes, it comes in limited edition styles such as graphic and animal prints (e.g. 3D Geometric, Snakeskin, and Croc Skin), exotic leather (e.g. Bull), tri-color styles, and leather with metal details like what I have: Givenchy Antigona Metal Edge in Hazel, Medium Size. I got it from a Givenchy store in Dubai via a friend and it retailed at SR 8,200 or around P105,000.00+. Locally, Givenchy Antigona Medium starts at P119,000.00.

Disclaimer: This authentication post is only intended for the featured bag.

More details about this bag, plus find out how to catch a fake one!

This particular style was released in the pre-Fall/Winter 2014 collection as Limited Edition and it only came in two colors: Hazel and Black. Hazel is made from Soft Calfskin and the latter is made from the same material, but has a glossy (but not quite patent) finish, if I am not mistaken.

Here are the dimensions of a medium- sized Givenchy Antigona (taken from bergdorfgoodman.com):

• 11"H x 12 1/2"W x 8"D; 8"D; weighs approx. 3lbs. 3oz. 
• Tote handles, 3 1/2" drop; flat, cross body strap; 10" drop

This bag has a very structured and very solid design, and it can definitely stand on its own-it's also stiff and it will bounce back to its original shape just by tapping on its inner walls if flattened. It doesn't get deformed quite easily too, unless you use it every single day and you're quite careless with it.

If your Antigona or the one you're eyeing does not fall under these measurements, it gets deformed easily, and it doesn't spring back into shape, BEWARE! And btw, Metal Edge came in TWO COLORS ONLY: Hazel and Black.

It has a semi- diamond- shaped leather patch sewn right in between the handles and a floating metal brand tag is placed right in the middle of it-I don't really know how they attached the metal tag right in there as I see no stitches, screws, or anything so let's just call it craftsmanship. :D Notice that the pointy portion of the patch falls right in the middle of the handle bases.

The handle base features clean, uniform, tone-on-tone stitching and two leather patches: The bigger leather patch that serves as the base for the handle and a smaller leather patch. The bases have four corners at the bottom parts.

Check out the leather: Soft Calfskin exhibits a semi- veiny and pebbled appearance-these features are all intrinsic to this kind of leather and in no way intended by the manufacturer. As for the feel, it is supple and soft with a semi-matte finish. This leather has a sharp yet lovely smell-this is how my Givenchy Pandora smells like too so I guess it's the brand's signature leather scent! :)

If your Antigona or the one you're eyeing has messy, crooked stitching, stitch is not uniform with the color of the bag, metal tag is crooked, bent, and off- center, and the handle bases' shape doesn't look anything like the one in the photo, BEWARE!

The recent Givenchy Antigona pieces now come with two leather tabs at the base of the bag to protect this area. If your Antigona or the one you're eyeing has these tabs, but they are not identical to these, BEWARE!

I liked this bag because of these metal bumpers-they offered great protection for a structured bag that is very scuff- prone. However, these bumpers added more weight to the bag, around 0.5 or 1 lb., collectively :p 

The Antigona Metal Edge Black, I believe, was launched way before Metal Edge Hazel because it used to have V-shaped bumpers, but Givenchy changed those to this same bumper when they relaunched it together with Hazel last year.

Givenchy had added this nice stitch pattern on the sides of the bag, possibly to break its monotonous look. If your Antigona or the one you're eyeing does not have this stitch pattern or if it has, but the pattern is different than this, BEWARE!

The handles of an Antigona are cable- like as they're stiff, kinda' thick, and hard-they are flexible, but do not fall to the sides or onto each other. They have this solid, clean U-shape as well. 

If your Antigona or the one you're eyeing has flimsy handles, shape is a wobbly U, and they feel slim, BEWARE!

Antigona comes with a shoulder strap, but it is not detachable. Shoulder strap has medium thickness-it's the perfect strap shape in my opinion because it does not slice through my shoulder blades unlike slim straps and it does not slide off unlike thick straps. The shoulder strap of an Antigona is just plain and simple.

If your Antigona or the one you're eyeing either has a slim or thick strap, stitching is crooked, and strap is detachable, BEWARE!

Oh, here are some of the finer details of the Antigona. The strap has two jagged metal buckles on both ends and they are immovable-they're just there for design purposes.

The strap is attached to two bales: A square bale and a U-shaped bale. Both bales are attached to a U-shaped ring.

By the way, Antigona comes in Silver hardware only. I read somewhere that there were limited edition Antigonas in Gold hardware released sometime last year or two years ago, but this information, I have yet to verify. For future reference, Silver is the standard hardware color for Antigona.

If your Antigona or the one you're eyeing has two U-shaped bales or two square bales, ring is square, metal buckles are flat or rounded and they slide up and down the strap, and hardware color is not Silver, BEWARE! BEWARE! BEWARE!

The Antigona has a huge zipper lining with chunky teeth and yet the zipper pull slides on it breezily.

If your Antigona or the one you're eyeing has a zipper lining that does not look like this, BEWARE!

The main zipper pull is a thick leather patch with a hump on the topmost portion. The zipper pull is attached to the zipper base by a U-shaped ring.

If your Antigona or the one you're eyeing has a flat, flimsy zipper pull and the ring is not U-shaped, BEWARE!

Let's go to the inner part of the bag. The lining of the Antigona comes in Black only and material is thick fabric.

If your Antigona or the one you're eyeing does not have a thick, black- colored fabric lining, BEWARE!

ADDENDUM: Some readers mentioned that not all authentic Givenchy Antigona bags have a Black lining. I am not knowledgeable anymore on the new changes and styles of this particular bag so please just check with an authorized retailer about your future concerns. Thank you to all those who notified me about this fact. 

P.S. To those who did so in a rude way, please know that it is possible to correct people without having to be rude. ;)

This bag comes with three compartments: A zippered compartment and two open ones. At the zippered compartment, there is a leather flap sewn at the center with the words GIVENCHY MADE IN ITALY heat- stamped on it. The zipper lining on this compartment is like a smaller version of the main zipper lining and it features a semi- long, flat leather zipper pull attached to a U-shaped ring.

If your Antigona or the one you're eyeing does not have a zippered compartment or if it has, but the zipper pull is too short and not attached to a U-shaped ring, leather flap is off center and has frills on the edges or worse, it's a metal plate instead of leather, and zipper lining does not look anything like the one in the photo, BEWARE!

Here are the two open compartments: The bigger one has a smooth tip while the smaller one has a gartered tip.

If your Antigona or the one you're eyeing does not have two open compartments or if it has, but the compartments don't look anything like these, BEWARE!

Almost through! We're now down to the leather swatch and care booklet. The leather swatch does not come housed in any pouch and the care card is a booklet that is written vertically.

If your Antigona or the one you're eyeing does not come with a leather swatch or care booklet, BEWARE! If it comes with the two, but you got a care card instead of a booklet, BEWARE, TOO!

The dust bag is similar to my Givenchy Pandora's, but the strings on this one are thinner now, possibly a new tweak in Givenchy's accessories.

For reference, here's a Givenchy Antigona replica.

I lack structured bags for work, thus I purchased the Antigona. It's really a gorgeous bag and I believe it will never ever go out of style, but I realized that medium is too huge and bulky. I love luxury handbags, but I'm not obsessed enough to baby them or treat them like human beings, and this bag requires some form of special treatment due to its boxy and stiff structure: I can't commute nor look for a cab in peace when I'm bringing it, it's heavy on its own and gets heavier when you finally put stuff in it, it can't fit in gym lockers, and it eats up too much table space-I should mind it all the time!

Still, the Antigona is a beautiful bag-that, I will not take back. I now realized that the real problem is I chose the wrong size-I should've gone for Small, the perfect size for most people, but this size goes out of stock too quickly. The time I purchased this bag, Small was OOS and I thought that the size difference between that and Medium was not at all significant, but I was wrong. Oh well! That's one lesson learned this time and I learned it very well. :D

Is Givenchy Antigona for me?

Givenchy Antigona is a great corporate bag with lots of space and a trendy spin on the style-I could imagine Prada lovers falling in love with it, especially if they're looking for a bag that looks classy and has edgy twist.

If you are going to purchase Antigona in the near future, heed this advice: Go for Small! :)

Check out my other bag reviews:

Prada Tessuto Gauffre' BN1789M Nero

Prada Lux Saffiano BN 1874 in Bluette

Louis Vuitton Damier Azur Neverfull MM

Balenciaga Classic City Red

Balenciaga Velo G12 Gold in Black

Any Givenchy Antigona users here? Share with me your thoughts on this bag on the comments section below this post. :)