Less than a grain of salt. So "big" is the world's smallest handbag. To be precise, it's a reworking of Louis Vuitton's OnTheGo tote bag, complete with monogram and handles but at Lilliputian size. It was created by the New York-based collective MSCHF, already known for satirizing fashion trends. This time the goal is to highlight one of the trends of recent seasons: sporting increasingly smaller bags. Accessories that, moving away from the practical function of the bag, are transformed from objects of use to ornaments.
"Smaller than a grain of sea salt and narrow enough to go through the eye of a needle, this is a bag so small you'll need a microscope to see it," reads the collective's Instagram profile. There are big bags, regular bags and small bags, but this one says the last word about the miniaturization of bags. As a once functional object like a handbag becomes smaller, its status as an object becomes more and more abstract until it becomes a pure representation of the brand."
A concept at the antipodes of MSCHF's Big Reed Boots, which went viral a few months ago. The microbag, made of translucent resin using a process similar to 3D printing, measures 657x222x700 micrometers. It is one of the lots for sale on Just Phriends the auction open until June 27 organized on the occasion of Paris Fashion Week by Sarah Andelman, the former creative director of the Parisian boutique Colette, and Joopiter, the auction house founded by Pharrell Williams (Louis Vuitton's new Men's Creative Director).
Prior to MSCHF's intervention, the record for the mignon bag was held by Jacquemus' Le Petit Chiquito. At 8.5 cmin high and 5 cm in length, the small bag fits in the palm of one hand: very pretty to look at but decidedly nonfunctional, it nonetheless quickly won over celebrities and influencers, becoming a real object of desire. But in recent seasons Chanel, Balenciaga and even Louis Vuitton have also offered their creations in micro versions. Mini in size, maxi in style.
