That, we’ll hazard, is the thinking behind its oversized silver paperclip, a snip at $185 (£145), and the latest in a litany of designer accessories inspired by the mundane and the everyday. In fairness, it’s a money clip with a logo, but everyone knows money clips are for rich people (people who deal exclusively in notes) so the irony is still there.
The Prada paperclip has a ring to it, but it’s not the first of its kind. Fashion has long found beauty, humour and profit in designing familiar objects in an unfamiliar way. We saw Jil Sander’s £185 coated-paper “Vasari” bag in 2012 which was just that – an expensive paper bag, cannily designed with coated paper so it didn’t go sodden in the rain. Then there were the £45 leather stickers by Anya Hindmarch, and carrier bags that were embellished with sequins at Ashish for £275, as well as appearing on models’ heads at Christopher Shannon (the subtext was thought to be a commentary on the reality of being a new designer with little disposable capital). Most coveted was Supreme’s logo’d $30 (£23) red clay brick from last year, an absurd item in itself, but then you find out it followed a crowbar, a boxing bag, a Bible, a fire extinguisher and nunchucks.
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