Cabas Shopper Bag by Balenciaga

You know those cheaply made (and cheap) red-white-blue nylon carrying bags commonly used in Asia, particularly in Hong Kong and China? Those bags are really, really cheap. At least one airport that we know of has these bags stashed, ready for checking passengers who have overweight or oversized baggages to repack into. Seriously, I have personally used that before and I am not even kidding. They are totally delicate and absolutely cannot take any beating. While we may view it as cheap, this iconic carrier is actually the design inspiration behind France-headquartered European fashion house, Balenciaga’s Cabas shopper, as dreamed up by creative director, Georgia-born fashion designer Demna Gvasalia. I do not know what to make of this, really.

Cabas Shopper Bag by Balenciaga

On one hand, it is strangely refreshing seeing something common being turned into a luxury item and on the other, it feels kind of weird. The latter is mainly because it begs the question ‘why would anyone take a cheap, everyday item and turned into a product that cost 500 times more?’ One thing for sure, you won’t want to bring this when you are traveling between Hong Kong and China, and you most certainly don’t want to leave it on the floor in the market, next to any elderly who’s carrying a similar bag for that someone else might just mistaken it was his or her bag. Obviously, it is not. Even though it is sized (57 x 49 x 31.5 cm or 22.4 x 19.3 x 12.4 inches) almost like the traditional red-white-blue nylon workhorse, the price disparity is alarming (which should be expected anyways).

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Speaking of price, the Cabas shopper, which first appeared at Balenciaga’s fall/winter show lugged along by models on the runway, is available at colette for €1,995 or €9,500 (about $2,225.82 and $10,599.15), depending on if you prefer lamb skin, or the more exotic snake skin.

Cabas Shopper Bag by Balenciaga

Cabas Shopper Bag by Balenciaga

Images: Balenciaga via colette.

via Hypebeast