With her 364 million subscribers on Instagram, Kim Kardashian's actions rarely slip through the cracks. Like this March 16, when the businesswoman went with her 9-year-old son to a basketball game in Los Angeles. In the front row, she was dressed in a white t-shirt, black leather pants, heeled ankle boots...But it was her Hermès Birkin bag that attracted all the attention. The $40,000 crocodile accessory was not on his lap, but on the floor. “The Birkin on the floor is crazy”, “This bag costs more than most people's rent for the year. Disgusting,” protested some Internet users in comments on the photo posted by
Just Jared
’s Instagram account .
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Kim Kardashian and her 9-year-old son Saint West during a basketball game. (Los Angeles, March 16, 2024.) JIM POORTEN / Getty Images via AFP
According to them, a luxury handbag can't be left just anywhere - least of all on the unsavory floor of a basketball court. However, this is not the first time that the reality TV star has placed her prestigious accessories between her feet. In 2010, during a basketball game in Newark, her camel-colored Hermès handbag was also left on the ground.
Price, maintenance and supersitions
The element that justifies the criticism is, above all, the price of the bag. As proof, at the end of February, Kim Kardashian decided to sell one of her Birkins for the sum of 70,000 dollars. Seven years earlier, a buyer paid 318,000 euros for an Hermès bag at an auction. Prices justified by strong demand on the market which is always full of luxury bags, and few offers. “The more expensive luxury accessories are, the more inaccessible and therefore rare they are, which in fact increases their desirability,” revealed Aline Pozzo di Borgo, luxury marketing expert at
Causette
. The
Timeless
by Chanel, the
Lady Dior
by Dior...The timeless and classic models from the big houses increase in value over time, and are - just like real estate - real investments.
Kim Kardashian and Jonathan Cheban during a basketball game at the Prudential Center. (Newark, October 31, 2024.) James Devaney / WireImage
Without forgetting that a luxury bag, like any other piece of leather, requires maintenance. On the Internet, there is no shortage of tutorials for properly cleaning and storing this type of handbag. The Hermès website also has an entire page dedicated to good advice for maintaining leather, as is often the case for luxury houses that offer leather goods. “Crafted with the greatest care, Hermès creations require very particular attention,” specifies the French house. By this logic, leaving a leather bag on the ground would be synonymous with negligence.
Superstition, finally. In many countries, dropping your bag on the ground is a sign of bad luck. In Brazil, for example, this mania announces a loss of money. This is why several restaurants in the country offer bag hooks. Got it, Kim?