A minimal handbag that is capable of passing through the eye of a needle sold at auction for $63,750.
MSCHF, a Brooklyn art and fashion group, designed the brilliant yellow bag, which contains Louis Vuitton’s trademark LV monogramming. The bag measures 657 by 222 by 700 microns (0.667 x 0.222 x 0.7mm) and can only be seen using a microscope. The usual coarse salt particle size is around 2mm, whereas fine table salt is about 0.3mm.
The bag is based on the Louis Vuitton Onthego tote, which sells for between $3,100 and $4,300.
According to MSCHF, the tote bag was created using two-photon polymerisation printing methods and is made with photopolymer resin and a gel case. The process is commonly used in the biotech industry.
Speaking to the New York Times, MSCHF’s chief creative officer Kevin Wiesner said they had not collaborated with the French fashion house, nor sought its permission to use its logo or design.
The auction, however, was hosted by Joopiter, an online auction house founded by Pharrell Williams, Louis Vuitton’s menswear creative director.
“There are big handbags, normal handbags and small handbags. Various brands at various times have dabbled in the extremes of each,” the lot description, written by MSCHF, reads.
“Smaller than a grain of salt, MSCHF’s Microscopic Handbag is made via a stereolithographic process commonly used for making tiny mechanical biotech structures. It is the final word in bag miniaturisation.
“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. Previous small leather handbags have still required a hand to carry them – they become dysfunctional, inconveniences to their ‘wearer’.
“Microscopic Handbag takes this to its full logical conclusion. A practical object is boiled down into jewellery, all of its putative function evaporated; for luxury objects, usability is the angels’ share.”
Earlier this year, MSCHF made headlines selling red oversized cartoon-style boots for $350. They were dubbed the “Astro Boy boots” thanks to their similarity to the footwear favoured by the Japanese manga character.
