Just when you thought Simon Porte Jacquemus had designed fashion’s most outrageous It bag—a mini bag so mini that it only holds a stick of gum or maybe a pair of AirPods (without the case!)—Virgil Abloh slides in with a surprising counter. Sure, the Jacquemus bag holds just one or two little things, but Abloh’s literally holds nothing. Dubbed the Meteor, Off-White’s new top-handle purse comes with giant holes punched straight through the leather. They’re slightly askew to function as handles, but anything you might slip into the bag—an iPhone, a card case, lip balm, headphones—would instantly fall out. In fact, in a release, the brand specifically admits the bag is “unfunctional.”
Can we even call it a bag, then? The very definition of a bag or purse is that it’s something to hold your personal belongings, making this more objet d’art than everyday accessory. The release adds that the Meteor is “challenging the concept of a bag itself, one of the most common objects in our everyday lives.” Perhaps this is Abloh’s response to trendy mini bags that are little more than Instagram props, or it’s a comment on how luxury handbags have become elitist status symbols. Or maybe the Meteor bag is the ultimate status symbol: a “bag” for the woman who doesn’t need to carry anything at all.
