Big-name bags are becoming less and less practical and selling expensive – a trend that has been pushed hard by a recent bag.
But this time, I dare not easily say that the big names cut leeks, because this bag of materials is very expensive, and it can be auctioned even more expensive at auction houses!
This bag is from Coperni, the Parisian label that only went down in history on last spring/summer runway – supermodel Bella Hadid walked half-naked on the runway and spewed out a white dress.
Looking at the style alone, it is obviously the "basic" model labeled Coperni, but it is better than the model, the performance and the new material Fabrican. The show earned the brand more than 300,000 followers and a significant increase in sales.
At the recent autumn/winter fashion show in March, the machine that spewed clothes was replaced with a robot dog, and the modern version of the fable of "The Wolf and the Sheep" was staged with the model on the runway.
But the real finale of this show is not any model and robot dog on the runway, but the bag in the last model's hand, which is as expensive as the dress sprayed on Bella's body - it turned out to be a 55,000-year-old lunar meteorite.
But the real thing looks like a random stone in a construction site, picked up and chiseled.
What is the concept of 55000 years? If the ancestors of the Stone Age left a family heirloom, they are barely the same generation as this meteorite today.
▲ Raw materials for making this meteorite package. Image courtesy of Instagram @sebastienmeyer
Image from: Twitter @pradachurch
NSS Magazine also joined forces with several popular brands to produce a Stone Age collection featuring meteorite bags.
Image from Instagram @nssmagazine
This is all ancient cultural relics level, after being made into a meteorite package by a big brand, not only the weight is very "cultural relics" - 2 kilograms, but the price is also very "big brand" - 300,000 yuan (40,000 euros).
▲ Image from: Coperni official website
Sharp-eyed netizens immediately pointed out - isn't this a kettlebell in the gym?
Sold from 2000 yuan to 740000 yuan
In addition to inviting a robotic dog named Spot from Boston Dynamics, Coperni also invited Tika, a puppy with the label "fashion blogger" from Canada.
On her first day in Paris, Tika changed into a green longtail dress as soon as she arrived at the hotel and headed to Coperni's big show.
But even more interesting was that the next day, Tika went to Coperni's order meeting to advise the buyers, and also shot a short video.
Coperni founder Sébastien Meyer and Arnaud Vaillant's puppy Neo were also on the scene and caught Tika's eye at the beginning - a handsome French puppy. However, how can he be completely naked, Tika also made Neo wear his own black leather suit.
Unfortunately, Tika's attention soon turned to Coperni's most recognizable bag, the Swipe Bag!
First, I had a magazine cover with two bags, black and gray, and then turned around and ran to the same bag made of yellow glass, feeling that it matched my outfit.
But soon she took a look at the latest product of the season - the meteorite bag. Unfortunately, the bag is too heavy, and Tika can only give up the photo. Instead, Sébastien Meyer, who designed the meteorite bag, kept taking selfies in the mirror.
Image from Instagram @sebastienmeyer
With the 18K solid gold version and the Apple version made of apple skin, the most important generations of the Swipe Bag will be on the same stage.
▲ New bags at the Coperni Order Fair. Image courtesy of Instagram @voguebusiness
Although they are the same big family and share the same source of inspiration - the iPhone's early slide unlock button was made into the same moon bag shape, but the price difference is too big - the cheapest one sells 2,000 yuan (295 euros), and the most expensive sells 740,000 yuan (100,000 euros)!
By what? Material with "ideas".
Through materials and new ideas, we bring freshness to this bag every season.
—Arnaud Vaillant (co-founder of Coperni)
Swipe Bag was born in 2019, the year Sébastien Meyer and Arnaud Vaillant left Courrèges to restart the brand they founded in 2013, Coperni, named after the astronomer Copernicus who published "Heliocentric Theory".
After the two founders released a photo and officially announced their return, Swipe Bag appeared in the first group of model blockbusters, using the usual materials for bags, black and white and snake-print leather, for 4400 yuan (595 euros).
A year later, the lower-priced upgrades – the 3,000 yuan (395 euros) mini version and the 3,900 yuan (525 euros) baguette version Swipe Bag also hit the shelves soon after the Fall/Winter 2020 catwalk. A smaller size was added 1 year later - the Baby version of the Swipe Bag, priced at 2,000 yuan (295 euros).
▲ 3 sizes of Swipe Bag. Image courtesy of Instagram @coperni
▲ Baguette version Swipe Bag. Image courtesy of Instagram @coperni
But that's just about silhouettes and bags, what inspired Swipe Bag's extreme exploration of materials?
In 2020, when the global pandemic was just beginning, some forward-thinking fashion brands began to plan a lot of fun events on Instagram and made friends with young people, including Coperni.
The day after April Fool's Day, Coperni immediately launched a challenge of the week to draw a Swipe Bag, and the winner will receive a real Swipe Bag.
The seemingly simple and common task with the rules makes this challenge interesting, because you can only use Instagram's own drawing filters! This means that retouchers who can't draw will also be masters of this challenge.
In the end, they unexpectedly received about 500 works, which was so interesting that they added T-shirts as prizes.
It turns out that bags are not necessarily made of leather, and the common egg cakes, pizzas, bread, and red wine glasses after turning into emoji can all be the "materials" of Swipe Bag.
One of the works looks a little rough, but very thoughtful - on the blue sky and white clouds photo, the Swipe Bag is "erased" with a white brush, and the sky instantly becomes the "material" of the bag.
If the later mirror bread is put under the sky, will this photo of P come true?
The next year, in 2021, Swipe Bag began to embark on the road of material innovation - eco-friendly leather made from apple waste, but through the laser out of small round holes, the bag and the same series of clothes into "hole shoes" that can be attached.
Image courtesy of Hortenzia
In 2022, Coperni found a cool modeling couple, Peter Dupont and Breanna Box, who founded an equally cool brand under the pandemic – Heven, which specializes in hand-blown glass.
Peter Dupont and Breanna Box. Image courtesy of Vogue
In the end, they collaborated to create each unique glass bag that was very demanding – without any molds, each one was hand-made by a master with more than 15 years of experience.
Josh Raiffe, who made the glass bag. Image courtesy of Instagram @raiffeglass
The special edition with the Devil's Horns is even more difficult to make, and the two small horns are precisely shaped by the master with scissors and clips in a matter of moments.
I didn't expect the glass bag to sell well. I thought, maybe we're going to make five. As a result, we sold hundreds!
—Arnaud Vaillant (co-founder of Coperni)
▲ Doja Cat in a handheld glass bag. Image courtesy of Instagram @home.in.heven
Image courtesy of Instagram @home.in.heven
Image from Instagram @coperni
In the spring/summer 2023 collection released in October of the same year, Coperni actually made a pure gold version of the Swipe Bag, priced at 740,000 yuan (100,000 euros). After the catwalk, the only sample was melted down and returned to the Italian supplier, which will not be remade until the order is received.
But these innovations are nothing compared to the 2023 that has just entered - the meteorite package was born.
Image courtesy of Printemps
Go to the places with the most stories and find the most story-telling materials
A meteorite from the moon that really looks like an ordinary stone. If you think of it as a "stone", you will find that Coperni is really not the first person to make a bag from a "stone".
Czech artist Jana Sterbak made a work of art called Sisyphus Sport in 1997, adding a leather strap to the stone to make a heavy "empty bag".
Image courtesy of Instagram @archived.dreams
In 2013, Eastpak, an American outdoor brand that served the military, teamed up with sculptor João Parrinha to design a backpack-shaped artwork called Desert Rock.
Image courtesy of Sesamebagel
Artists Barbara Segal and Mun-gi Yang have successively turned luxury bags into real "stones" and participated in art exhibitions and auctions. Olivia Philibert and Gigi Gonella, students at fashion school IFM, also modeled on rock designs.
Works by Barbara Segal. Image courtesy of Art Angels
▲ Works by Mun-gi Yang. Image courtesy of Artsy
Works by Olivia Philibert and Gigi Gonella. Image courtesy of Instagram @oliviaphilibert
But when Coperni came to design the new pack, why did it have to be a lunar meteorite?
People develop an emotional attachment to something rare.
—Arnaud Vaillant (co-founder of Coperni)
Lunar meteorites are a very rare category on Earth and have their own classification at Christie's auctions. NWA 12691, a lunar meteorite weighing more than 13.5 kilograms, could even sell for 17 million yuan ($2.5 million).
▲ Lunar meteorite NWA 12691. Image courtesy of Christies
The experience of holding a part of another world in your hands, something you'll never forget, is part of the real moon. It's about the size of a soccer ball, a little bigger than your head.
—James Hyslop (Head of Science and Natural History, Christie's)
To find the real lunar meteorites with a story, Coperni enlisted the most storytelling private gallery, Thaetrum Mundi, to work with.
Why is it the gallery with the most story?
It sells both real historical artifacts, such as real dinosaur fossils, Soviet spacesuits that have been in space, costumes and props used in movies. Because it is to be made of the "treasure cabinet" of the aristocracy in European history, the "Room of Needs" that can amaze guests.
▲ Illustration of the cabinet of treasures from 1599. Image courtesy of Sotheby's Institute
Even Harry Potter's wand, Thor's hammer, the life jacket worn by Rose in Titanic, the lightsaber from Star Wars, etc., can be found in this gallery in Italy. But the gallery is not open to the public, but is dedicated to millionaires across Europe.
Thaetrum Mundi means "theatre of the world" in Latin, and behind it is a mysterious collector, 50-year-old Luca Cableri, a former employee of Christie's auctions in London.
But wouldn't meteorites be embarrassing to put them in these very cinematic collections? In fact, meteorites can walk freely into this glittering gallery, and also walk the runway of fashion week with great ease.
I would move items from the niche market to the broader luxury market.
For example, you might stumble upon a meteorite fragment in the Namibian market; Here I put it in a room with frescoes, next to other amazing objects. It's like taking a picture of a zebra on the top of Mount Everest.
If you know how to bring different worlds together, you won't create chaos, but you will work wonders.
——Luca Cableri
▲ A meteorite placed under a spacesuit. Image courtesy of VICE
Meteorites are a very necessary and widespread presence in this gallery, and in 2019 a separate book was published for meteorites - Meteorites Catalogue.
Image courtesy of Thaetrum Mundi
In order to get more rare meteorites, he spent years connecting with people who searched for meteorites as a profession. And the price of meteorites will also be much more expensive than gold, according to Luca, Martian meteorites are worth 20 times more than gold per gram.
▲ Martian meteorite and a Tyrannosaurus rex tooth worth up to 80,000 euros. Image courtesy of VICE
The identification of meteorites is also a very important part. Thaetrum Mundi will cut 20 grams and send it to the laboratory in Washington for identification, and if successful, it will be certified authentic and entered into the International Meteorite Bulletin.
Coperni's meteorite bag with Thaetrum Mundi will also include a certificate of authenticity presented by Thaetrum Mundi with a time, place, and photo of the meteorite original—the meteorite is no longer a stone, but a 55,000-year-old romance.
This time the meteorite was discovered in France in 1968 and hand-carved into a bag by Italian factory Semar in 2023. When the next order arrives, where will the next meteorite come from and how many years of story will it have?
Bags that have been redefined are more like personalized jewelry
Many times the evaluation of the usability of bags falls on the consideration of whether it is good to store and not convenient to carry after storage.
This is all because of the traditional definition of bags.
A bag is a tool in the form of a non-fixed container.
- Wikipedia
▲ Shopping bags designed by Xylk Lorena. Image courtesy of Highsnobiety
▲ Wine glass-shaped bag designed by Nikolas Bentel. Image courtesy of Instagram @nikbentel
But if bags are redefined as personal jewelry, should we also look at bags in terms of the practicality of the objects they carry?
Published By happens to be an Austrian brand that has completely broken the boundaries of bags and accessories.
"Ruby's Lost Stone" is the brand's first and most classic bag, which looks like a meteorite, but has been replaced with a very futuristic silver metal material that comes from recycled car parts.
But Published By doesn't stop at bags, it also designs accessories in this futuristic style.
When these necklaces, brooches, belts and other accessories are presented on the body with the bag, the bag seems to be part of the accessory, and even if it is not contained, it has a meaning.
▲ Image courtesy of IGNANT
A recent tweet that has sparked heated discussions also revealed that non-practical bags are also everyone's "heart". This post is a question thrown to the public by fashion enthusiast and game design student Linda.
What's the most ridiculous, boring, and unnecessary haute couture item you'd most like to have?
——Linda
▲ Post with pictures. Image courtesy of Twitter @itgirlenergy
The comment section was quickly filled with all kinds of fashion items, and surprisingly, bags accounted for the largest proportion, with almost half of the reviews appearing in bags.
There are also netizens when sharing Chanel shopping basket bags, do not forget to complain about how the price has increased again, the last time I saw it was still $29,000, click on the picture to see - $98384.
▲ Image from: Twitter @jjjjjessika
The Hula Hoop Bag launched by Chanel's spring/summer 2013 catwalk is oversized, and it is almost catching up with the hula hoop, and there are still netizens who are crazy to show their love to it.
Ottolinger's "fragile" bags made of ceramics also appeared in the comments section. It turns out that the "fragile" attribute is not a problem at all in the eyes of true love fans.
There are also martini-style bags that can't hold anything at all.
So, will Botter's "ice cube bag", which was only short-lived on the runway, also have true love fans?
Image from: Twitter @botter_paris
Image from: Instagram @wwd
Sonia Rykiel, a French fashion designer and writer known as the "Queen of Knitting", once said a famous quote for her bags.
With just one bag, you can completely change your outfit.
▲ Heven's new glass bag. Image courtesy of Instagram @home.in.heven
For fashion items, beauty and practicality should never be opposites and contradictory, you can choose bags because of practicality, or you can buy bags like personal accessories.
Fortunately, in this era of diversity where novel ideas are becoming more and more accepted, we can have more and more interesting choices whether we want to be practical or beautiful.