There’s truly no prediction on what will start a social media discourse week by week. Usually on Twitter, where trendy topics emerge and conversations begin, there’s a search engine of subjects that are ready to be picked apart. Most recently Hermés bags, particularly the Birkin, has fallen victim to being the latest hot topic.
There’s no one celebrity to point to that particularly made this conversation emerge. Our favorite It Girls like Cardi B, Rihanna, and Megan Thee Stallion have all been seen with this luxury item, but a recent video of Saweetie surfaced—while the rapper was promoting her new single “Back To The Streets,”—that left Twitter debating just how important a Birkin bag really is. “If he’s not buying you a Birkin, then send him back to the streets,” the Bay Area artist exclaimed.
Social media took to express their thoughts about this video. “Your man doesn’t have Quavo money and you don’t look like Saweetie. Let’s end the convo there,” one user wrote, while another said, “Saweetie that advice is too casual for me…. I’m a college student, where am I going to find a Quavo?”
Now that women rappers are showing off their Birkin bags, it seems like many more celebrities and Twitter users have weighed in on the conversation. Enough to make Offset defend the way in which Black people celebrate luxury. “Black people having access to luxury shouldn’t be a debate,” he wrote. Cardi also responded with a video posing the same question, “why don’t you all do this to white celebrities?”
Despite the Hermés item being widely discussed, it is actually quite a rare find. According to British Vogue, due the scarceness of the bag, most look to secondhand retailers to purchase this item. While similar in style, Hermés provides two selections; The Kelly bag, which starting average is priced at $8k and the Birkin averaging around $9k. Each provides high-quality craftsmanship and premium leather, as the Hermés bag is an investment. According to a study in 2017, the value of a Birkin bag has increased 500% in the last 35 years. As digital fashion writer for British Vogue, Giorgina Ramazzotti states “investing in a Birkin or Kelly bag is now a historically safer investment than the stock market.”
Starting at $10,000, if you’re lucky enough to snag this investment before the holidays, brands like Farfetch, Rebag, and Christie’s sell the hard-to-find Hermés bag.