One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, or in the case of Balenciaga, a coveted item of the season.
The luxury fashion house is selling a drawstring calfskin pouch in the shape of a trash bag for $1,790, a move that seems destined to be the punchline for endless Zoolander “derelicte” jokes. The brand’s “trash pouch” is available to shoppers in four different colorways: black, white and red, blue and black, or yellow and black.
“I couldn’t miss an opportunity to make the most expensive trash bag in the world, because who doesn’t love a fashion scandal?” Balenciaga’s creative director, Demna Gvasalia, told WWD.
The piece first debuted as part of the opening look from Balenciaga’s Fall 22 show in which Gvasalia, who is Georgian and was once a child refugee, paid homage to the victims of the Ukraine war. Models trudged down a runway filled with artificial snow, recalling the refugee experience.
Lately, the fashion house sent out a masked, incognito look on Kim Kardashian for the MET gala, and in their most recent couture show, enlisted Nicole Kidman to model a shiny scrunched-up silver gown that also had a garbage bag, or space blanket quality to it.
Balenciaga’s trash pouch has already been named by GQ as a must have, but if shoppers want the look for less there’s always a box of Hefty’s 36-count large “superior strength” trash bags for $13.89.