MSCHF Debuts Bag Birthed From Iconic Hermès, Celine, Dior, Balenciaga Designs

Image via Global Supply Chain Telephone

MSCHF’s latest handbag is a deliberately familiar. If you can’t put your finger on where exactly you’ve seen it before, that’s because it’s the spiritual successor of four famous designs.

Priced at US$650, the Global Supply Chain Telephone bag is the outcome of a unique experiment in global collaboration and design improvisation.

Image via Global Supply Chain Telephone

The art collective sent vague instructions across four countries, ending up with a statement piece blending the iconic features of world-renowned handbags into one. The journey began with a Peru leather factory being instructed to replicate Hermès’ Birkin, followed by a Portugal center being tasked to incorporate the prototype with elements of the Celine Luggage tote.

Prototypes. “First, we asked a factory in Peru to knock off a Birkin bag… Next, we told a factory in Portugal to mash it up with a Celine bag… then we had a factory in India combine it with a Dior bag… Finally, we asked a factory in China to merge it with a Balenciaga bag. This was the end result.” Image via Global Supply Chain Telephone

Next, an Indian facility merged it with features of Dior’s Saddlebag, before a Chinese factory imbued it with edges from Balenciaga’s Hourglass. This process of mixed silhouettes turned into a game of design telephone, where each factory added its own interpretation to the final product.

Image via Global Supply Chain Telephone

This silhouette illustrates the creativity often overlooked in the manufacturing process. By involving four factories worldwide, the project brings to light the complex, “single, enormous, merged ecosystem” of global supply chains that underpin the fashion industry. It’s a nod to the collective effort that goes into making a single piece of fashion, challenging the idea that design is the sole domain of individual creatives.

Image via Global Supply Chain Telephone

Image via Global Supply Chain Telephone

“Anyone seriously engaged with manufacturing understands the factory is not a computer, taking in perfect instructions and outputting perfect execution. The factory performs tremendous amounts of invisible creative labor,” the brand considers. “It happens in places where the designer doesn’t even know to provide instructions.”

Image via Global Supply Chain Telephone

[via New York Times and WWD, images via Global Supply Chain Telephone]