It’s day 372 of watching that Chanel “Butt” Millenium leather handbag sit pretty in your Vestiaire likes. Should you buy it? Should you not? The discourse that pops back into your mind every few weeks is louder and more indecisive than ever but before you even have the chance to add the item to your basket, you remember that one tiny little thing is missing: the actual funds in your bank account.

Now a vintage Chanel bag can easily be found scouring the internet, landing on page 36 of an eBay search that intentionally misspelt the house’s name, for a good deal – anything under £1k is a bargain considering it’s Chanel. But then there are other times where the bag itself seems way too weird or outrageous to even defend its own price point.

Take for example MSCHF’s latest piece: the microscopic (not an exaggeration, you literally need a microscope to see this one) Louis Vuitton bag. It recently sold for, get ready for this one, $63,750. MSCHF is known for its hype marketing techniques, creating a buzz around outrage, and this fat price tag for an item smaller than a grain of rice is just the epitome of what MSCHF does. 

J.W. Anderson is one who has been out-weirding all the bags out there, coming out with its Carrie Bradshaw-approved Pigeon Clutch bag for £650. The terrifyingly realistic bird bag just became the Sex & The City main character, after high fashion Twitter (is it high fashion Threads now?) came flocking to identify the bag after its 5 minutes of screen time.

Practical? Debatable. Aesthetically pleasing to the eye? Also debatable. The surge of weird bags may not become the next mainstream trend, with many even wondering what purpose they actually serve, but their mere existence is a manifestation of their meaning.

Bags have always been a signifier of status. When first introduced, it was a way for women to gain independence, finally able to carry their own belongings, and now the handbag has become a status of wealth and power in society. In fact the smaller (less capacious, if you will) the bag, the wealthier the wearer. What else does the top 1% need except for their phone and Dior lipgloss on a night out they were driven to, invited to, and served limitless amounts of anything they could ever want? Really, nothing. 

Now more than ever is the time to go wild. Why try and play it safe when you could have a literal pigeon as a clutch? Or you know, watch and admire the slew of weird sh*t people are spending their money like the most of us.

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