MSCHF Is Selling Designer Bags for $40 — Sort Of
What's the next best thing to being rich? Looking rich, of course!
MSCHF's new drop (its 66th, to be exact) will shroud you in the illusion of wealth, even if you can't afford the trappings of a luxurious lifestyle.
Just in from the prankster art collective behind Lil Nas X's "Satan Shoes," OnlyBags is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. To clarify, it's an e-store offering shopping bags from high-end labels including Fendi, Hermès, Burberry, and Rolex, priced at $40 each.
So you can look like you just went to town on Rodeo Drive, without dropping thousands of dollars. Fake it 'till you make it, indeed.
"If you can’t consume — and you know you can’t, not on the level you crave, not on the level that has been spoon-fed to you by social media and the mediated fiction of celebrity existence — you can at least attain the aesthetic of consumption," the OnlyBags manifesto reads.
"If there’s one thing we know from acquiring our bag samples, it’s that strolling down the street laden with (empty, of course!) Balenciaga, Valentino, Rolex, et al. is one hell of a power trip."
A nod and a wink to the ironic messaging of the drop, OnlyBags also sells carriers from retailers one wouldn't typically consider a status symbol, specifically Sephora, IKEA, and Victoria's Secret. There's even a plastic "THANK YOU" bag, something you can cop at your local bodega for mere change.
All priced at $40, these less desirable offerings point to the absurdity of anyone paying for branded packaging — a phenomenon that's generated booming demand on resale sites including eBay — just to project a certain image.
So, what can one actually do with these empty designer bags? Display them (sadly, bag wall art exists), incorporate them into your social media posts, carry them down the street for a quick confidence boost, re-sell them online so you can afford to buy another status symbol.
So forget the Birkin and the Datejust — thanks to MSCHF, there's a cheaper, easier way to gain clout.
