Balenciaga's new £1,670 bag looks just like the 40p tote sold by Ikea

Yes, it's made of leather, but it does look suspiciously like the Ikea staple

David Maclean
Thursday 20 April 2017 11:01 BST
Comments

A French luxury fashion house has released a £1,670 tote bag – that looks remarkably similar to the ones Ikea sell for pennies.

The couture brand sells the ‘Arena extra-large shopper tote bag’ on its website for a cool $2,145, and says it’s made from “blue wrinkled glazed leather”.

The bag, which is made in Italy, features a gold-stamped logo at the top, zip pocket, and it’s lined with black fabric.

But Twitter users were quick to point out that the fashion elite were being gouged – given that Ikea gives sells similar holdalls for just 40p.

Even Ikea agreed that the bag looked remarkably similar, with a spokesperson in the US telling Today: “We are deeply flattered that the Balenciaga tote bag resembles the Ikea iconic sustainable blue bag for 99 cents. Nothing beats the versatility of a great big blue bag.”

However, due to the bizarre nature of the fashion world, dedicated fashionistas may be even more attracted to the bag now that it’s been likened to a high street staple.

There’s been a trend over the past year for high-end fashion brands to take inspiration from the most mundane, everyday branded clothing and accessories.

Last year the bleeding-edge fashion brand Vetements released a yellow t-shirt with the iconic red DHL branding and sold it for £185.

According to Lucy Willis, a senior fashion PR manager for Selfridges, the “subversion of recognisable motifs” is like an “in-joke” for fashion’s elite.

We’re all for an ironic wardrobe addition, but even we'll draw the line at spending the price of a MacBook on a bag for lols.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in