One thing we’ll never get tired of talking about: Denma’s trash. Or rather, the controversial Balenciaga trash bag which sparked debate among CULTED’s community on TikTok. Back in August, we reposted a TikTok by creator @ninadrama featuring a satirical depiction of a real trash bag being mistaken for Balenciaga, and the comments went wild for it. Returning to the bag last week with a full rundown of the accessory’s rise to fame on TikTok, we found it’s certainly divided people. Here’s what CULTED’s commenters made of the debate…
Going viral at the beginning of August, our initial repost caught the CULTED community at the start of Demna’s now iconic accessory’s rise to fame. Gaining over 655k views, our repost of @ninadramas tongue-in-cheek TikTok evoked an almost unanimous feeling of confusion and absurdity. Among the comments, calls for a reveal of what was assumed had to be a prank were made, with one commenter @deborahdonnelly0 theorising “Balenciaga must be a social experiment 😂”.
Whilst this isn’t the first time Demna’s used his creative licence to produce strange and wacky items, the marketing and selling of the trash bag in particular has done surprisingly well. Considering the bag is a leather depiction of an everyday household item, and one you put your in rubbish nonetheless, it sold out almost immediately at an eye-watering $1790 per bag.
Commenters under CULTED’s TikTok from last week explaining the mind-boggling trajectory of the Balenciaga trash bag’s sales were extremely divided. Whilst there were many comments perceiving the bag as a sort of ridiculous joke, user @dopamineaddict3d responded that “It’s funny when people don’t get it”.
Demna’s certainly a creative director who likes to have people guessing, so maybe there is more to the bag. For those ‘in the know’, it’s common knowledge that a lot of Demna’s work at Balenciaga has conveyed an underlying message. The controversial design of the bag brought about problematic associations at the time of its release, with people speculating whether it was a form of ‘poverty-chic’. But maybe the bag’s really meant to express Demna’s feelings about society’s responsibilities to the impoverished, or the environment?
Whether you think there’s more to the bag than what it first seems is up to you, but ultimately you have to acknowledge that carrying one round is nothing less than hilarious. One commenter @bellamycat2021 reasoned you don’t even need to spend £1790 to get on in the trend as “Every time I throw out the trash now I’m gonna feel like I’m on a runway thanks Balenciaga”, and @judithjohn40 simply summarised the look as “Fashion with flies”.
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