It is essentially a roll of Scotch tape that Balenciaga is passing off as a high-end bracelet with the appropriately absurd, high-end price of €3,000 (S$4,400).
Naturally, it is being mocked mercilessly – and praised obliquely – online, the latest in a string of everyday products the luxury fashion brand is elevating to haute couture heights by stamping them with its highly coveted name.
The bracelet – crafted to resemble a roll of transparent Scotch tape – was part of Balenciaga’s fall/winter 2024-25 collection, unveiled on March 3 during Paris Fashion Week, and plays with the concept of packaging materials as fashion accessories.
A model wore the bracelet on the catwalk. She was dressed in a loose powder blue dress that was tightened to fit her body with adhesive tape.
The sticky tape bracelet went viral after it appeared on the TikTok page of fashion influencer @highsnobiety.
A video on the page asking “Would you wear this?” has been seen close to eight million times.
“Balenciaga is a social experiment of selling rich people senseless stuff,” @toni.montana97 said in the comments section.
Another commenter, @hyures1, chimed in: “Rich people want to feel poor so bad.”
Others just went with the joke.
“I just bought one, but it’s from a small indie brand called Scotch,” Mr Nick Young said in his comment on TikTok.
Writing on the same thread, Ms Andreia Simao said she had long been on this trend: “When I was 6 years old, helping my father painting walls at home”.
The bracelet is also rocking China’s fashionista millions to their core.
Influencers there are creating their own sticky tape creations that they are hoping to sell for a fraction of the price because those do not come with the Balenciaga name.
A user on Douyin – China’s version of TikTok – posted his own video offering a tape ring, tape earring and a three-piece tape necklace.
Balenciaga has yet to say how much it will charge for the sticky tape bracelet, but similar pieces on its official site currently cost from €295 to €1,600.
Some fashion influencers have said that with all the hype now going around it, the bracelet could fetch as much as €3,000.
Provoking a response
Balenciaga is no stranger to provocations to ironically get across its meta-criticism of consumerism and capitalism, and challenge perceptions of value and desirability in contemporary fashion.
In 2017, it released the US$2,000 (S$2,700) “Arena extra-large shopper tote bag” that looked much like Ikea’s US$0.99 blue shopping bag.
It rolled out another tote bag that same year that resembled a paper bag but was actually made up of high-priced calfskin and, thus, was appropriately priced at US$1,100.
Then in 2022, Balenciaga unveiled the “world’s most expensive trash bag” – cowskin Trash Pouches – that retailed for around US$1,790, and a pair of torn and dirty US$1,850 trainers.
That same year, the fashion brand faced intense backlash over two controversial campaigns: one that styled children with BDSM-inspired teddy bear bags; and another that included documents regarding child pornography laws in the background.
And who can forget Balenciaga’s infamous “towel skirt” from its Spring 2024 collection – which sets you back US$925 so that you can look like you just come out of the shower?
