A curious thing is happening: Plastic bags, once relegated to covering your dry cleaning or transporting your groceries home, are now considered...chic?
If one is to believe the influx influencers, editors, and designers who are carrying (and creating) them, the answer is yes, plastic bags are the new It bags. But the totes in question aren't quite the clear bags we've noticed taking over London and Paris street style; the version we're talking about is similar to the bag your Seamless takeout arrives in.
It's an odd trend, considering some retailers will make you pay for a plastic bag in order to encourage shoppers to take the eco-friendly route and bring their own reusable shopping totes. Fashion, on the other hand, is all about it. Perhaps they are so sought after because they are the opposite of the usual offerings from luxury labels?
Raf Simons created a transparent bag for the Voo store in Berlin, which retails for $158.79. During Fashion Month, we saw spring 2018 collections from Céline, Burberry, and Balenciaga all feature plastic bags on the runway. The Céline version goes for almost $592, while the Balenciaga one costs an unbelievable $1,159.
At first glance, it feels like an environmental sin to stylize such an object, but maybe there is a deeper meaning here. Perhaps the labels are pricing these bags as such to remind consumers that plastic bags are not disposable, and we should not handle them wastefully. In the sense of slow fashion: buy less, and invest a little more money instead. Hey, at least that would be a laudable statement.