Balenciaga’s resort 2019 Bag Collections lets everyone know exactly who Made It

It must go without saying at this point that a big part of carrying designer bags is their ability to signal status to others, and normally the only people who dispute this are those who don’t want to talk about the fact that they’re doing something so self-conscious and class-conscious. In reality, though, it makes best sense to want to find an proper way to project an image that reflects what others value—which often includes success and wealth—because it can make a meaningful difference in how others perceive and treat you. hate the game, not the player.

Shoppers choose bags to do this that are a lot more subtle or less so, depending on the exact message they want to send and who they think they’re trying to communicate with. If you’re anxious that a Chanel double-C logo or a Louis Vuitton monogram might somehow be too coy to make sure that every last person on earth knows you splashed out for a fancy bag, may I introduce you to the Balenciaga resort 2019 collection, which is calibrated to remove all doubt, so long as the person seeing the bag can read. What you’ll have to do to tell babies you’re rich is up to you.

Other than a few of the Chanel-aping flap bags with double-B logos and chain straps, all but a few of the collection’s other bags including BALENCIAGA written clearly in a sans serif font, front and center, a basic bag’s only embellishment. It’s a huge logo on several sizes of dome satchel, but smaller on new versions of the everyday line that’s already gained popularity with shoppers. Those bags with the smaller logos are better and a lot more wearable, of course, but they don’t get designer Deman Gvasalia’s point across quite as clearly: he’s mocking fashion and its consumers for fetishizing logos, which is a common theme of his work both at Balenciaga and Vetements, and he’s doing it in the most bald-faced way possible. Whether getting one of these bags indicates you’re in on the joke is a different question entirely.

[Photos by means of vogue Runway]