Is fashion’s latest ‘it’ bag making a mockery of hype culture?
Trends and fads in fashion as we know them are transitory, here today and gone tomorrow. Spending money on the latest “IT” item is par for the course if you’re a fashion lover. (Hopefully we are all leaning towards being conscious consumers.) If you are one of the rarefied few that can afford the authentic designer piece, I believe Balenciaga one again might challenge your purchasing habits with their latest trending piece.
Balenciaga’s controversial creative director has designed the new “IT” bag for 2023, the Lays Potato Chip bag. Made from leather it is rumoured to cost you $1800. The bag debuted at his Fall 2023 show with models clutching them while walking the runway. As mentioned by Instagram account, Diet Prada, this appears to be a collaboration between Balenciaga and Lay’s as the well known chip brand posted the bag on their account.
Is this a new low for Balenciaga? Or a genius strategy to get Balenciaga’s name on everyone’s lips? Love or Hate him, Demna Gvasalia has and will continue to be contentious. He previously debuted the Trash Pouch, the inspiration being the garbage bag. This I think is self explanatory.
The question we need to ask ourselves is, is this fashion? Another question I'm pondering is whether Demna is mocking the very idea of what we perceive as fashion and our slavish desires to “bag” the latest trending item? Can we slap a designer name on something and justify the insane price tag attached to it? This I believe is a relevant conversation to have on the future of fashion and design.
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