Peering through the windows of the storefront at the corner of Broadway and Canal Street, it might seem like just another upscale boutique. Inside, luxury handbags — Dior’s Lady D-lite, Louis Vuitton’s Loop, Loewe’s Puzzle bag, Telfar’s Shopping Bag, and several Hermès Birkins among them — are arranged on a grid of white shelves and…
Why do women still clutch tiny purses at fancy parties? Don’t they want to drink, dance and wave hello without having to keep a grip on a container that’s often fragile and handle-free? What about shoulder or cross-body bags, reticules pinned to the waist, or a gown or a tux with practical pockets? There must…
The Swiss artist Pipilotti Rist has long been fascinated with bags and keeps a vast collection of them in her Zurich studio. Known for her immersive sound and video installations (she’s currently the subject of a show at the Fire Station in Doha, Qatar), Rist believes that the bag was one of the first human…
One video opens with a large white leather handbag covered in the signature LV logo of Louis Vuitton. Within milliseconds, a hand with a switchblade swoops in and slashes a huge gash in the side of the bag before tearing it apart at its seams. In another, the distinctive red sole of Christian Louboutin is…
