Part 2: What size Chanel Diana bag should I buy?

The answer to the above question is that it depends! My buying advice is always to buy something proportional to your body shape. I originally bought my Diana intending for it to be a very elegant night bag as the beautiful tab border with edge stitching caught my eye as having potential to be THE bag for night time rendezvous. The craftsmanship on the Diana is impeccable and silhouette for some reason just screams elegance.

As I’ve become more progressive however, (PC even with bags!) I’ve moved into using a Diana bag for my daily use (e.g. caviar or medium size) and so I’m much more comfortable with buying a Diana in a different size. This is all just to emphasize the point that it always just depends on what purposes you want to use the bag for! 

General Buying Principles

On the assumption that you’re in the beginner category and like me fallen in love with the idea of using the Diana as an elegant night bag – then think about following these buying principles (again, not prescriptive, just suggestive!):

• Height: night bags are usually petite so the bag needs to be proportionally much smaller than your waist.
• ‘Girth’/Waist: this is about proportionality. If your waist size is smaller or even close to the length of the entire Diana bag (i.e. waist is smaller than 25cm) then you NEED to get the small Diana size for it to look elegant and delicate on you.
• Styling: finding your personal style and making it work with the Diana look. I think it’s pretty apparent this Diana silhouette isn’t exactly ‘rocker chic’ or ‘bohemian vintage’ so styling does matter. A medium size /oversized bag usually looks more casual and so can fit in easier to the two above mentioned style categories.

The Diana Sizes

To my knowledge, there are actually four Chanel Diana bags sizes:

XS size: photo was googled

S (square): photo taken from google

Jumbo size, taken from WAGA NYC, I've really never seen it anywhere else!

What fits – a functional comparison between the small vs medium Diana?

 Pictures are the only way demonstrate! Behold direct comparison photos – I’ve posted on this topic here before, but now I produce a much clearer and nicer set of photos for comparison.

Strap Length – there’s a big difference here which is relevant for cross body wearing! 

The width length – the medium is significantly bigger and many respects.

ipad test – it doesn’t fit in both sizes (also DO NOT PUT HEAVY THINGS IN YOUR DIANA BAG)

What items fit? Size comparison between my usual WIMB photo. Note that the medium can comfortably fit a pair of sunglasses including a very bulky case. The medium one is much more restrictive unfortunately.

Small Diana is roughly the same size as a Small Chanel Classic Flap

 And a medium Diana is slightly smaller than the medium Chanel Classic Flap 

Bigger bag does not mean more stuff!

I will hone in on this point until my last dying breath. Space does not always need to be filled up! The reason why you shouldn’t put heavier things in your bag is because it may stretch and change the shape of the Diana. Most of the weight in your bag is borne by the bottom and you can really misshapen the sturdy rectangle shape as lambskin tends to be able to stretch quite a lot. No heavy things!!

MGFT’s Suggested Buy

Surprise! It’s still small. I’ve tried to keep an open mind and present both as very tangible and functional options but ultimately my obsession with keeping my bags small and light logically can only lead to one conclusion – the small size Diana is the only one for me! Lucky for all of you, I keep an open mind and I do occasionally sell both! Visit me on our Instagram page and let me know your thoughts and what you’re looking for. As always, advice is free!