A designer handbag can be extremely expensive, and this happens for many reasons.
These bags are made from quality materials, and that they're made with precision and details in mind. They also focus on longevity, and also durability. And on top of them all, the logo for the brand signifies how its owner is a wealthy individual who knows fashion.
This is a contrast to knockoffs handbags, which are essentially bags mass-produced to fulfill the thirst of those who cannot afford the real thing. As a result, these bags can cost fractions of the original.
But not this particular fluorescent yellowish-green.
The bag that is based on a popular Louis Vuitton design, is the work of a New York art collective.
This makes it a knockoff, but also extremely expensive.
This is because the bag is the smallest bag, ever been created.
Barely visible to the human eye, the handbag measures just 657 by 222 by 700 microns. What this means, its dimension is less than a millimeter, and cannot even hold a grain of salt.
Dubbed "Microscopic Handbag," its creator, the Brooklyn-based group MSCHF, said that the bag is narrow enough to pass through the eye of a needle.
And someone paid $63,000 for it.
The sale was hosted by Joopiter, an online auction house founded by American musician, record producer and designer Pharrell Williams. It's worth noting here, that this time, Williams serves as Louis Vuitton's creative director of menswear.
According to MSCHF's chief creative officer Kevin Wiesner, he said that the collective had not sought his or the French label's permission to use its logo or design.
"We are big in the 'ask forgiveness, not permission' school," he said.
"Pharrell loves big hats, so we made him an incredibly small bag."
According to Joopiter, the bag was created using 2-photon polymerization printing methods, a manufacturing technology used to 3D-print micro-scale plastic mechanical models and structures.
Made of photopolymer resin with a gel case, the bag comes with a microscope with a digital display so the buyer can actually enjoy and see their purchase.
A promotional photo shows the design in greater detail, revealing Louis Vuitton's signature "LV" monogram.
While its miniscule size restricts MSCHF from putting lots of details, it's certain that the bag is based on the French label's OnTheGo tote, which retails at full size for between $3,100 and $4,300.
"Previous small leather handbags have still required a hand to carry them - they become dysfunctional, inconveniences to their 'wearer,'" the statement added.
"'Microscopic Handbag' takes this to its full logical conclusion. A practical object is boiled down into jewelry, all of its putative function evaporated; for luxury objects, usability is the angels' share."
"There are big handbags, normal handbags and small handbags, but this is the final word in bag miniaturisation," MSCHF said in a post about the bag.
It's also worth noting that when it was being created, some of the tiny bag samples that have been sent to be reviewed by the brand were so small that they were lost by the MSCHF team.
"As a once-functional object like a handbag becomes smaller and smaller its object status becomes steadily more abstracted until it is purely a brand signifier," MSCHF said.
“Previous small leather handbags have still required a hand to carry them — they become dysfunctional, inconveniences to their ‘wearer,’” the statement added. “‘Microscopic Handbag’ takes this to its full logical conclusion. A practical object is boiled down into jewelry, all of its putative function evaporated; for luxury objects, usability is the angels’ share.”
Founded in 2016, MSCHF has made headlines with its so-called "drops," irreverent art projects that often poke fun at consumer capitalism, while also profiting from it.
