Did a $3 bag on AliExpress inspire Balenciaga's Lays potato chip clutch, the star accessory of the luxury label's Spring/Summer 2023 collection?
Demna's latest featured an outrageous follow up to its $1,800 trash bag, which is exactly what it sounds like: a leather drawstring sack designed to look just like a 13-gallon Hefty. Upping the ante for SS23, the creative director debuted a series of Balenciaga-branded Lays potato chip packets, complete with gold zippers.
Here's where AliExpress comes in: a point raised by several Instagram commenters, the hotbed of designer dupes and knockoffs is home to several storefronts peddling Lays cross body bags for as little as $2.03, less than what an actual bag of Lays costs in some major cities.
Judging from reviews left on the AliExpress listings, the bags have been around for months — meaning Demna's latest ridiculous luxury may have unintentionally (or intentionally) drawn from the laughably cheap "Funny Potato Chips Crossbody."
Whether or not AliExpress was on Demna's moodboard, the designer's potato chip clutches follow in his great tradition of luxurifying the mundane — the undesirable, even. Remember when he sold ragged, intentionally destroyed sneakers for $1,850?
By now, Demna has made it crystal clear: one man's trash is another (rich) man's treasure. So get in, we're going dumpster diving at AliExpress!
