In 2022, Balenciaga released its Winter Collection at Paris Fashion Week. Their line featured winter coats, tight body suits, and bags. One of these bags has caused significant controversy online because it looks like a trash bag. It is made of red and white calfskin and costs almost $2,000. Since then, Balenciaga has created other strange pieces, including tape roll bracelets and chip bag purses for unreasonable prices. While Balenciaga has made many weird products, this idea is not new to the fashion industry. For years, brands have been creating insane pieces that don’t have a discernible meaning. Perhaps they are creating fashion for attention, or maybe there is a secret meaning.
Either way, people are still buying them. Celebrities like Kim Kardashian use these absurd designs to garner attention from press and fans, but is the attention positive? Kim has always been particularly controversial, and fans often question her fashion choices. In 2022, she wore Marilyn Monroe’s dress to the Met Gala, and the public was outraged, worried she had damaged or stretched it. But this is only one example of Kardashian’s abnormal fashion choices. Kim has been the face of Balenciaga for a few years now and has modeled some very interesting looks from the designer brand such as their 2022 Winter Collection, when she covered herself in Balenciaga-printed caution tape. She later posted a video of herself on Instagram opening one of Balenciaga’s garbage bags. She was very eager to open the gift and said, “I’m so excited; I love this trash bag.” Since then, many influencers and creators have commented on her bold choice and even criticized her and Balenciaga for making this insane bag.
This idea that the bag is unreasonable goes along with the rest of the general public as almost everyone thinks that the bag is overpriced and poorly thought-out. When asking administrators at Lake Highland what they thought of the bag, they had some interesting comments. When Mr. Garth Parke, Dean of Students, was asked if he would buy the bag he said, “On a scale from one to 10, that bag is mid, so no.” Mr. Jonathan Heitt, Director of Student Services, agreed with this comment, and called high fashion a, “Wild world.” Not only did the admin dislike the bag, but so did students and teachers.
Kate Caborn, grade 11, called the bag, “Weird and gross.” Rachel McKenzie, grade 9, said, “I would rather get a bag that I like and would not think of how anyone else would see it.” All other students who were interviewed agreed that they would not buy the bag due to its looks and price, and some made some interesting comments about the meaning of the bag. Emma Larson, grade 10, said that, “It probably represents how stupid luxury can be,” and that she, “Hope[s] it was ironic, otherwise, it was a failure.” Mrs. Amanda Jones had a similar idea and stated that she is, “Wondering if there’s some sort of modern art statement being made that I’m missing, but what I see is a fancy trash bag that costs almost $2,000.”
But why did Balenciaga make this bag? And why are people buying it? I believe that designer brands are a scam and made for people who want to control the way others think of them. While some designer pieces are high-quality and pretty, they are never worth the price they are set at. People don’t buy for looks. They buy for the brand, which is exactly why people still buy the garbage bag purse. Carrying around a $50 purse from a normal business does not give the impression that you are wealthy, even if the bag is high-quality and beautiful. However, carrying a leather trash bag definitely gives the impression that you have money to spend or to waste. It seems that as well as people buying the bag to draw attention, Balenciaga made the bag to attract attention. Demna, the creative director of Balenciaga, told Women’s Wear Daily that he, “Couldn’t miss an opportunity to make the most expensive trash bag in the world, because who doesn’t love a fashion scandal?”
Balenciaga had a great opportunity with this bag to spread an important message like overconsumption or living wages, but they instead used it for their own benefit. A big problem with designer brands is their ethics. They create products at the same production cost as other high-quality brands and give them an extreme upcharge. Overpriced or expensive items are now only bought for the name, not for the looks, quality, or meaning. This trash bag could have started a fundraiser to clean up landfills and to make our world more sustainable. It could have encouraged people to look into reusable bags and spread awareness about the amount of waste we produce, but it didn’t. This bag was made to be trashed.
