Shoppers wanting to take home a Louis Vuitton handbag would need to have around $2,300 in their bank account.
To take home a microscopic version of the bag—which has been created without the brand’s sign-off—it would cost them around 27 times that much.
According to a listing from Joopiter, a digital-first auction house founded by musician and creative Pharrell Williams, a neon Louis Vuitton tote bag “smaller than a grain of salt” sold this week for nearly $63,750.
The piece, named Microscopic Handbag, was created by Brooklyn art collective MSCHF (pronounced “mischief”).
The group raised eyebrows in 2021 after it tore up Hermès Birkin bags—which retail for around $11,000 each—and transformed the pieces into Birkenstock-style sandals, which sold for $76,000. MSCHF also made headlines for selling sneakers with holy water trapped in the soles, dubbed “Jesus shoes,” and “Satan shoes” containing human blood, which were released in collaboration with rapper Lil Nas X.
As well as causing a stir among the public, the Lucifer-inspired footwear was met with a less-than-enthusiastic response from Nike, which sued MSCHF for the unauthorized use of its Air Max 97s in the design. The lawsuit was ultimately settled outside of court.
On Instagram, MSCHF said the Microscopic Handbag—which is small enough to pass through the eye of a needle—had been made to underline the fashion trend of micro-bags, many of which aren’t large enough to accommodate a mobile phone.
“There are big handbags, normal handbags, and small handbags, but this is the final word in bag miniaturization,” the collective wrote. “As a once-functional object like a handbag becomes smaller and smaller its object status becomes steadily more abstracted until it is purely a brand signifier.”
The bag—dubbed the “ant purse”—measures 657 by 222 by 700 micrometers and is visible to the human eye only via a microscope with digital screen, which also pictured in the listing.
Micro matters
The piece was made using polymerization printing methods—a type of 3D printing—and created out of resin; it’s since been put in a gel casing so it won’t be misplaced.
This is a factor the team creating the piece needed to consider. According to Smithsonian magazine, MSCHF lost some shards of the material when sending them off for review.
In a statement alongside the listing, MSCHF argued that usability of items like bags is no longer in the hands of mere mortals.
“Previous small leather handbags have still required a hand to carry them—they become dysfunctional, inconveniences to their ‘wearer,’” the group said.
“Microscopic Handbag takes this to its full logical conclusion. A practical object is boiled down into jewelry, all of its putative function evaporated; for luxury objects, usability is the angel’s share.”
As well as potentially losing shards of the handbag, MSCHF also faced the issue of Louis Vuitton’s branding—which they didn’t seek permission to use.
Earlier this month, Kevin Wiesner, chief creative officer of MSCHF, told the New York Times: “We are big in the ‘ask forgiveness, not permission’ school.”
It’s a mentality that hasn’t worked seamlessly in the past. As well as facing legal troubles for its “Satan shoes,” which sold out almost instantly but were recalled as part of Nike’s settlement, MSCHF is also currently embroiled in a lawsuit with Vans.
The skateboarding apparel company sued MSCHF after it released a line of “Wavy Baby” shoes, distorting Vans’ “Old Skool” sneakers. Sales of the shoes were initially blocked in April last year, with a judge finding Vans was likely to prove that MSCHF’s shoes would be confused with Vans’ trademark-protected design.
