While the fashion world eagerly awaits Pierpaolo Piccioli’s debut collection for Balenciaga, the French luxury fashion house continues to prove it can stay relevant and even go viral. Shortly after the maison opened its largest store in the world at the Taikoo Li Sanlitun in Beijing at the end of last month and its “briefs” skirt was removed from online channels after viral backlash, Balenciaga was trending again at the beginning of June over its exclusive release “Peking duck” bag designed for the Beijing flagship.
For the grand opening of the flagship store, the brand created a handbag and a keychain modelled after crisp packets. Since this was a Beijing exclusive design, its flavour was marked as “Peking duck”. Netizens were perplexed by the look of this simplistic snack and could not make sense of the crisp packaging with the 15,500 RMB (2,160.70 USD) price tag. They were further confused after the brand sold nearly 20 at one concession at SKP Beijing, and the 6,500 RMB (906.10 USD) keychains sold out online.
- #巴黎世家推出15500元北京烤鸭包 Balenciaga releases 15,500 RMB Peking duck bag: 62.45 million views on Weibo, ranking number 5 on the Hot Search list
- #巴黎世家烤鸭包三里屯店一周卖十多只 Balenciaga sold over 10 Peking duck bags in a week: 12.54 million views on Weibo, ranking number 14 on the Hot Search list
Some eagle-eyed netizens quickly realised that Balenciaga is showing its sense of humour, which is similar to the “abstract” humour they enjoy online. Meanwhile, most of the comments are still questioning the taste of rich people who can afford this luxury.