Designing a bag that looks both silly and extremely expensive is no small feat. Luxury, as a concept, is very self-serious, the fashion industry is endlessly self-aggrandizing. People who work in luxury fashion are not, by and large, the people you look to for jokes. Even brands who specialize in novelty usually only strike the correct balance some of the time–bags made to look like a luxe little joke often end up just looking like a joke.
In my mind, only two brands get novelty bags consistently right, and the first is Judith Leiber. The brand’s formula is simple: take an object, remake it as a crystal-covered clutch. The second brand is Chanel, and although the brand hasn’t been in this particular part of the handbag game as long as Leiber, its facility for high-end irreverence might be even more impressive when you consider its range. Most of the Chanel designs in question use plexiglass as their base, but from there, almost anything can happen, depending on the seasonal theme in question.
And when it comes to these designs, themes are very important. Many of these bags appear in collections that are centered around a particular city or country with a clear aesthetic history, and the brand tends to use cultural references from those locales to inform the design direction. It’s no coincidence that the locations chosen are frequently robust or emerging fashion markets, which likely makes the bags, which are already made in limited quantities, hot commodities for local VIP customers.
Of course, these rare, special bags come at a price. Most of the recent plexiglass pieces have broken the $10,000 retail mark, with the most expensive of the group being a $43,000 pearl-covered seashell from 2012. We’ve assembled all the ones we know of in chronological order before, but because the Internet is way heavier on information about collections from the last 10 years than those that came before, we may have missed some–feel free to help us fill in any blanks you see in the comments!
Chanel Casette Clutch
Circa 2004
Chanel Record Clutch
Season Unknown
Chanel Gold Bar Clutch
Circa 2006
Chanel Matryoshka Doll Clutch
Metiers d’Art Paris-Moscow 2009
Chanel Straw Bird Bag
Spring 2010
Chanel Doll Clutch
Metiers d’Art Paris-Shanghai 2010
Chanel Takeaway Box
Metiers d’Art Paris-Shanghai 2010
Chanel Ice Cube Bag
Fall 2010
Chanel Ice Cube Clutch
Fall 2010
Chanel Book Clutch
Spring 2011
Chanel Pearl Shell Clutch
Spring 2012
Chanel Doll Clutch
Metiers d’Art Paris-Bombay 2012
Chanel Gem Clutch
Fall 2012
Chanel Globe Clutch
Fall 2013
Chanel No. 5 Perfume Bottle Clutch
Cruise 2014
Chanel Drawing Portfolio
Spring 2014
Chanel Framed Flap Bag Clutch
Spring 2014
Chanel Strass Pistol Minaudiere
Metiers d’Art Paris-Dallas 2014
Chanel Belt Buckle Minaudiere
Chanel Paris-Dallas Metiers d’Art 2014
Chanel Embroidered Money Clutch
Metiers d’Art Paris-Dallas 2014
Chanel Lait de Coco Milk Box Minaudiere
Fall 2014
Chanel Meat Package Flap Bag
Fall 2014
Chanel Jerrycan Shoulder Bag
Cruise Dubai 2015
Chanel Premiere Watch Minaudiere
Cruise Dubai 2015
Chanel Jerrycan Minaudiere
Cruise Dubai 2015
Chanel Pearl Minaudiere
Cruise Dubai 2015
Chanel Powder Compact Clutch
Fall 2015
Chanel Brasserie Gabrielle Plate Minaudiere
Fall 2015
Chanel Turtle Shell Minaudiere
Cruise 2016
Chanel Dice Minaudiere
Pre-Collection Spring 2016
Chanel Playing Card Minaudiere
Pre-Collection Spring 2016
Chanel Trolley Minaudiere
Spring 2016
Chanel Perfume Bottle Minaudiere
Metiers d’Art Paris-Rome 2016
Chanel Movie Camera Minaudiere
Metiers d’Art Paris-Rome 2016
Chanel Gift Box Evening Bag
Pre-Collection Fall 2016
Chanel Thread Spool Clutch
Fall 2016
Chanel Jewelry Box Minaudiere
Fall 2016
Chanel Cigar Box Minaudiere
Cruise Cuba 2017
Chanel Robot Clutch
Spring 2017
Both the Record clutch and the Cassette Clutch are from the Spring Summer 2004 collection.
Karl explained in a french TV program that those bags are very expensive because they have to create custom molds to make them…
Would the Lego clutches count? They did quite a few iterations of it.
These are all fabulous, so fun to see.
Thank you for gathering them together; I’m sure a few have been missed and the Chanel ladies will note that but for me, this was fun eye candy!
I absolutely adore CHANEL and Karl Lagerfeld for these, they did it and did it in a fun and classy way
Chanel novelty bags are like the grown up sister version of Kate Spade novelties 🙂
When I think of tasteful novelties, Chanel and Kate Spade comes to mind.
Idk, these bore me. They are just missing something that makes them interesting. None of them look like they’d cost more than 50$. Maybe that’s just my Chanel hate bleeding through.
I love the cigar box.
Among all whimsical bags, the hula hoop bag is my all time favorite. When I first saw it I laughed so hard my stomach hurt.
Also my favorite. That was the best !!!! 🙂
Ugly!!! Tacky!!!!
Anya Hindmarch is the best but her novelty bags are very British. You have to know British culture to appreciate them.
Thanks for researching these and posting all the great photos! They are really fun to see!
Fun. If I were a gazillionaire, I’d collect these bags and display them as art, coz that’s exactly what they are…fabulous, fun art.
Love love love, Chanel novelty bags are fabulous, I would collect them if I had it like that, however I can appreciate from afar!
There are other bags from Paris-Shanghay wich I’m not sure made it into production but where on the show.
A hot water bottle cover from fall 2010, a sideways classic flap from spring 2009, an earlier pearl minaudière circa 2005 or the red carpet collection, the watering can from Versailles (cruise 2012), a chunky crochet basket in either jersey or leather from the Marie Antoinette as faux-pheasant (spring 2010), several gem clutches in leather and satin from Summer nights (spring 2008), a stack of bracelets on look 43 of Paris – Londres, 2 minaudières with the very very vague look of a Faberge egg from Paris-Moscou.
The “please dare to disturbe” pochette from Paris Cosmopolite.
The art déco chandelier, the pearl encrusted peanut and the chain mail pochette from cruise 2008. The fall 2008 clutch inspired by the Zaha Hadid Chanel movil art museum inspired by the classic flap bag.
The berlingot and candy bag pochette, woven chain baskets and probably my favorite the egg carton jewelry box from fall 2014.
The Girl sweater-backpack from fall 2015, and finally the hanger flap bag from 2016.
Also, although I’m not sure it counts a few rigid top handled bags from the 90’s, one carried by Fran and Silvia on some episodes of The Nanny and maybe even on SATC and the other resembling a very curvaceous typewriter with the rigid cover on
I love this discussion as we are avid Chanel collectors own a few minaudieres. There is one jewelry box minaudiere from Fall RTW 2004 that we have in stock that was recently re-produced: The Chanel Jewelry Box Minaudiere form Fall 2016.
Got a special edition strass silver diamond ball bag from 2018 if anyone interested. RRP USD 13400
Got a limited edition Chanel strass diamond ball bag with RRP 13500 from 2018 for sale.