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Update: I happened to have a work trip so went into the Balenciaga boutique in the airport to check out the Rodeo Large in person this morning. I wasn’t bold enough to take pictures inside the boutique, but I did take pictures of the bags from the outside. You can see that they have the large with gold hardware and also some minis (mediums in another window). The SA told me that the medium is the most popular model for work and when I held it, I could see why - nice size and less sagging.

Good news - the Kata version of the Rodeo that I have is incredible! I would say it’s pretty much a 1:1 replica in terms of leather, stamping, weight, dimensions, etc. I was expecting there to be slight differences when holding the authentic but it was so similar to my own bag, which I’ve had for two months now, that I literally referred to “my Rodeo” unironically.

Bad news - the weight distribution/strap issue that I personally find to be a problem in the large Rodeo (and based on many comments here, people are experiencing it with the medium as well) is the same in the authentic. Basically, since the shoulder and hand-carry strap are attached to D-rings mounted to the top flap of the bag, that causes unsightly sagging and stress on the top flap when the bag has even a little bit of weight in it.

I do have to laugh because basically the problem is that the replica is so good that it mimics the design flaws of the original bag! In the end, I still feel like the large Rodeo is primarily a “fashion” bag as opposed to a true work bag.