Saint Laurent

Go Ahead And Guess How Much This Saint Laurent Bag Costs

I mean, really. Just go ahead and guess how much the Saint Laurent Betty Borsa Mini Shoulder Bag costs. Get your number in your head and you’ll find me after the jump, where I’ll be chuckling to myself just like I am right now.

Ok, so it costs $7,500. That’s not nearly the highest price we’ve ever seen for a handbag around here, but for some reason, I nearly choked on a sip of water when I read it. It was as close to an actual spit-take as I’ll probably ever come, at least when it comes to purse prices. We’re all used to looking at a crocodile bag (or an Hermes bag of any kind) and assuming a price tag that reaches into the high four figures, but for a small shoulder bag that’s mostly made of regular leather and topped, by design, with a literal mess of chains, baubles and trinkets? It’s non-intuitive, to say the least.

Love him or hate him, much of Hedi Slimane’s short time at Saint Laurent thus far has been characterized by his willingness to take messy rock-n-roll staples like the leather jacket or motorcycle boot and render them in literal-but-luxurious ways, complete with utterly astronomical price tags, even by fashion standards. This bag, from his critically maligned Fall 2013 collection, is just the latest example of his commitment to that aesthetic. While I understand the allure of taking something that would otherwise be sloppy and spontaneous and instead constructing it in a meticulous, skilled way, it seems as though one would have to be a pretty ardent Hedi Slimane fan to put her money where her mouth is to the tune of $7,500 for what is basically a luxe-punk evening bag.

Slimane’s Saint Laurent collections have sold well, though, so maybe this bag will disappear before it ever hits the sale section. If you want to help that happen, pick it up via Neiman Marcus.

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