Do you ever wonder what to do with the paper shopping bags from your favorite luxury boutique? You know what we mean – bright orange indicating Hermès, black with white lettering from Chanel, robins egg blue from Tiffany. So intricately affiliated with the brand, these freebies scream luxury.
According to the latest news reports from China, some residents under COVID lockdown, anxious to display their wealth and good taste, are putting these designer shopping bags on display in a most unusual place. On the outside of home door knobs. But they’re not just for decoration. These bags hold the COVID test kits for pickup and collection by health workers.
Image Credit: Weibo
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On the one hand, what else are you going to do with a stack of paper bags, even if embossed with Hermès or Chanel logos? Reuse or recycle… or sell (yes, there are plenty of ebay listings for designer boxes and bags, presumably to make reselling items more attractive). If you are required to put a bag on your door for your COVID tests, it doesn’t matter whether it says Gucci or Stop and Shop. Any old bag, paper or plastic, would do.
Image Credit: @travelfashiongirll
Unless, of course, that’s the whole point. Even the Hermès paper bag confers status. Put another way, perhaps the message is “ok, so I can’t go out to the boutiques and shop now, but look at what brands I’ve purchased in the past. I’m trendy, I’m stylish . . . I’m rich.”
When you think about it, maybe using the shopping bag that way isn’t so different from opting for the designer bag in the first place. Let’s face it, even for the most committed label-lover fashionistas out there, for functional purposes you don’t need that Birkin or Classic Flap. Daily necessaries can go in anything, including pockets and paper bags. However, the designer handbag is something you love, covet, crave for yourself and your style. And maybe, just maybe, you’d like others to notice.
If the latter, then perhaps we can understand putting the designer shopping bags on display. Being stuck at home by government order is not generally a happy time. It’s even worse if you and/or family members are sick with COVID. And walking around your home with an empty luxury purse that you’ve been hoping to show off to the world, isn’t particularly satisfying. But, putting the shopping bag on the door might provide some gratification by letting people know, even if only the test collectors, you’re fancy. Or rich. It just might be the closest thing right now to leaving your home with a favorite purse.
Of course, not everyone is on board with this display of prior shopping prowess. For starters, some find it insensitive as large sectors of the population are ill with covid and find it difficult to get basic necessities. Moreover, these actions seem to run counter to President Xi’s Common Prosperity Policy. As the government seeks to narrow the wealth gap for political and economic reasons, it is discouraging luxury consumerism and the related displays of wealth.
Image Credit: GRMDaily.com
The question is whether a logo-ed and labeled paper bag shouts money just as the actual purchased products do. Put another way, is a paper shopping bag just a shopping bag, or something more? Is it as much a part of the luxury experience as the in-store treatment and goods acquired?
One could argue, accurately in some instances, that the quality of the designer paper is better than that of other stores. It’s a justification for its reuse, no doubt, but not a reason to flaunt the bag. Contrary-wise, there are those who reject the flashy bag and request a “plain” bag. Typically this is done for security reasons, to not draw attention to an expensive purchase and unwittingly tempt a criminal.
Either way, the shopping bag is not just a paper bag. It’s a symbol. Much like the contents.
What do you think?
Regardless, here’s hoping quarantine and lockdown end soon.
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