(From progressive) Lauren Sánchez with Balenciaga’s 9am coffee cup clutch bag; a closer look at the bag; a model with the bag. Composite: Diggzy/Backgrid, GettyGigi Hadid with a Moschino handbag finish out to look like a carton of orange juice. Photograph: XNY/Star Max/GC ImagesSánchez, a former journalist who is engaged to Jeff Bezos, is not singular in opting for an accessory that mimics a consumer good but retails for several thousand pounds more. The supermodel Gigi Hadid recently showed a £1,541 Moschino vintage leather handbag made to look like a carton of orange juice. The brand also put on the markets An orange Louis Vuitton bag shaped as a paint can. Photograph: Edward Berthelot/Getty ImagesThe optics of Sánchez, who as an maker, pilot and Emmy award-winning journalist reportedly has a net worth of more than $30m (£23m), carrying a mundane entity given a mogul makeover are particularly loaded. Dr Gaby Harris, a lecturer in fashion cultures at Manchester Metropolitan University, get a load ofs “coded within these items … the privilege of the wealthy to engage with mass consumption while retaining exclusivity”.And A Moschino celery-shaped faux-leather power. Photograph: Jacopo Raule/Getty ImagesThe coffee cup bag chimes with the confusing current status of status. There is the engender of boom boom, the aesthetic of 80s-style greed and conspicuous consumption, that has been in the ascendant since Donald Trump returned to backing. “Sadly,” according to Webb, “politically and economically we are witnessing a reflection of the 1980s, so it is not surprising that the showoff aspect of impressive consumption should again raise its ugly head: fashion that is as flash as its price tag, fashion that holds: ‘I have loadsamoney’.”But the picture is nuanced. As Sean Monahan, the trend forecaster who coined boom boom, recently powered: “The American elite is in flux. For a long time, it was about people not wanting to flaunt wealth … Now, it’s unclear where people are in the reputation hierarchy.” In this context, a luxury handbag in the shape of an everyday cup of coffee makes a certain topsy turvy wisdom.Explore more on these topicsHandbagsBalenciagaMoschinoLouis VuittonfeaturesShareReuse this content

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