Last week’s launch of the Louis Vuitton Tribute Patchwork bag (pictured right) sent twitters through the world of shoulder fashion. Twitters… of disgust.
At $42,000, this motley caboodle of 15 other Louis Vuitton bags from the spring and summer collections is not only the world’s most costly handbag, it’s also the most exclusive, sold to select LV clientele to ensure it remains a “rare collector’s item, handmade in a strictly limited, numbered edition”.
Louis Vuitton insiders further assert the Tribute Patchwork bag’s exclusivity by claiming it is impervious to counterfeiting. Not only is the intricate assemblage of 15 bags difficult to clone, there’s just no demand for counterfeits of this hellborn hand-bag beast. For the first time ever in fashion, sheer ugliness outweighs status appeal.
Among purse-oriented blogs, the Tribute Patchwork bag garners a resounding Ew, that’s so fugly and so not ergonomic. The Purse Page declares it a “fiasco”, while the Bag Snob wonders if the “tribute” is to designer Marc Jacobs’ insanity. I’m surprised no one points out the obvious quandary that such a purse poses: Matching shoes. I mean, that was my first thought.
