This handbag costs as much as a house - AIBU to think it's hideous?

[ScreamingValenta]

This handbag has just sold for £162,500

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-44463624

Why? What's nice about it? Gold-coloured crocodile skin? It doesn't even appear to be a convenient size or comfortable to carry.

Handbag experts - What am I missing here?

I like it but would never ever, even if I won the lottery, pay anything like that much for it

Dewsbury market

It's hideous and tacky looking imo.

I don't get the expensive handbag thing..if I saw someone with one I'd assume it was a fake anyway, so what's the point?

Designer threads always get people coming on saying what a waste they are

1. Good designer stuff often has zero labels and is just cut very well on good quality fabric and lasts well. On those threads when people say “how can I look expensive and groomed” - this helps.
2. The argument “id spend £6 on a bag in Primark” seems to forget what awful working conditions Primark sets which is a big reason why they can sell so cheaply. I’m not setting up all designers to be bastions of morality or anything but if you do your research, at least some of them have better manufacturing methods.

This is entirely aside from the jewelled monstrosity of course

Is it real crocodile skin? If so,that makes it even more hideous. I am frequently taken aback at the sheer awfulness of some handbags,that frequently cost thousands of pounds. Just why?

I agree with the principle of buying a more expensive, better quality bag that will last longer than a cheap one, but I've never bought anything in the league of a Birkin. Beyond a certain point, you are paying for the branding, not the quality, materials or even the design-hours that went into producing the bag. It would be interesting to know how much the precious stones/metals used in this bag would be worth in themselves - I take the point that their intrinsic value will add to the bag's worth.

I still think it looks brash and vulgar, though!

I always felt that throwing money around like that on shallow stuff in a world where innocent people starve to death is a sin. How can they? How can they sleep at night?
Yep Emperor's clothes. I wouldn't swap any
of my cheapie bags for that!
Well I would... but I would sell it and give the money to charity!

Well Birkins are know to be quite exclusive and prestige, apparently you can’t even enter a Hermes store and purchase one....staff only offer you the opportunity to purchase one if they deem you worthy enough as there is such a large waiting list and high demand vs product stock. So that means you have to dress/look the part, or else they will just tell you that they’re out of stock everywhere

You also have to bare in mind that the truly wealthy that have the money to afford these items WANT prestige/exclusive items, it is part of the luxury lure/value. They don’t want basic black like everyone else, they want something unique and just for them. It’s a status symbol. So although you deem it ugly and a waste of money, the truly wealthy with a ridiculous amount of 0s in the bank will actually be attracted to a one of a kind item like this

Also the resale value of this bag will be even more than the £160K retail value

^sorry, just read that this is a resale. But that just proves my point that something exclusive like this bag will go up in value

It's obscene and it's made of a dead crocodile.And it looks tacky.

It's gaudy. I can see Primark selling copies soon, rhinestones on the padlock and all

Fuck me and here I was feeling like high society because I finally bought myself a Mulberry bag (in the sale ) last week.

Apparently, some handbags are considered better investments than the stock market. Maybe this is one of them!

I like the shape of Birkins, but I think this one is a bit small. I'd rather have a Hermes Kelly bag, anyways.

Nilo crocodile hide and diamonds.

I don't like it.

Yanbu.

It makes me want to heave.

On the one hand, it's your money and your decision on how to spend it.

On the other hand, I have problem with buying things just because it's a status symbol. I will spend money on "brand names" if I'm buying quality and not just a name. But in general, a T-shirt off the rack at Wal-Mart and a T-shirt that says "Tommy" probably are about the same quality and will achieve the same result.

It's an investment piece, like art. You can look at a painting and think, I don't like it, it's ugly, the canvas cost tuppence hapenny, the paint even less - WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?

Same with this bag. You don't have to like it, or be willing to spend money on it. But the fact is, it's extremely rare and highly desirable among people who collect such things. It's not a handbag. No one will use the bugger. It's a faberge egg, or similar.

And it's as valid to collect handbags as it is art or anything else.

I use a rucksack or a small recycled rubber bag. It's not for me. But I get why it sold for so much. Whatever.

I would rather have a Faberge piece than that bag.

It's very Marie Antoinette in essence isn't it?

Gaudy, flashy, brazen and wasteful.

A bag I bought for £450 in 2012 is now worth around £800.

I am not badly off and would (and have) spend similar amounts on a picture or sculpture that took my fancy (though 160k is well out of my league!) but I really don't get bags.

If I paid thick end of a grand for a bag I would want it to have special features, e.g. it can turn into a dinghy in case of emergency. Well not any emergency obviously. Damn all use having a dinghy when the building is on fire or someone has had a stroke or something. Can just imagine the firefighters and paramedics trying to force their way in through the door saying "Who the hell inflated a dinghy in here?"

Oh dear I have drifted.....

I honestly wouldn’t pick it up at a car boot sale. It looks like tasteless tat at first glance but given the ‘real diamonds’ etc I would say it is for people with more money than sense,
You could certainly buy a house for under £160,000 in many parts of the UK.

I was wondwri also why they were still named Birkins. Explanation here
www.theguardian.com/fashion/2015/sep/11/hermes-jane-birkin-crocodile-handbag-peta-luxury

No way would Marie Antoinette carry that, she had better taste.

I usually like Birkins and Kellys, but that is one fugly bag.

I have made a small donation to help the crocodiles out.