Look, fashion is weird, high-end brands can get away with selling things at truly absurd prices, and capitalism makes us all absolute mugs that pay money for things we in no way need.
But every now and then the fashion world takes it too bloody far.
Like when FashionNova sold leggings with an open crotch, or when janties became a thing.
When these incidents occur, it is our solemn duty to mock these ridiculous items.
Such is the case for Maison Margiela’s White & Gold Single Tag Earring, originally priced at £220 (but now £84 on sale through Ssense).
At first glance, these earrings look like perfectly normal gold hoops, held on a piece of Maison Margiela white cardboard.
But alas, looks can be deceiving.
That white packaging isn’t actually packaging.
What you’re looking at is not a pair of emails on a bit of cardboard.
You are in fact beholding a single earring. The ‘cardboard’ is actually white calfskin and it’s part of the jewellery.
You can actually remove the gold hoop earrings and wear them as, well, gold hoop earrings, but they are marketed and modelled as a single item, to be worn solely on one ear.
The existence of this product was brought to our attention by @doragzplora, who summed up our feelings exactly with the tweet: ‘*online shopping* Oo this would be a nice basic set of earrings *swipes through photos* wait what.’
*online shopping* Oo this would be a nice basic set of earrings
*swipes through photos* wait what pic.twitter.com/2s34s2QTZC
— . (@doragzplora) December 24, 2019
In addition to attracting plenty of mockery for the earring, the tweet has also received comments pointing out the similarities between the Maison Margiela earring and Georgina Trevino’s original jewellery designs, which, just FYI, tend to be more budget-friendly. If you have fallen in love with the concept, it might be worth ordering through that independent designer rather than a big label.
We’ve reached out to Maison Margiela for further explanation of these earrings and how they would recomment styling, but as it’s Christmas we haven’t heard back yet. We’ll update this article if we do.
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