Just when you thought the luxury handbag narrative could not get any crazier, it does. Now retail giant Walmart has entered the fray. The Bentonville discounter chain introduced a version of an iconic bag and social media has gone wild over the copy. Birkin handbags are suppose to be the exclusive domain of the rich and famous with buyers sometimes waiting for years to purchase the ultimate accessory. Walmart made getting hands on one, at least a sort of respectable fake, a bit easier with a dupe that looks almost exactly like the famous piece at a price of only $78. Given the recent headlines of heritage brands skimping on handbag craftsmanship, perhaps, maybe the “Wirkin” is worth the investment.
The New Residence is an example of splendour in the Franconia city of Bamberg. Sitting on a hill overlooking the region, the 40 state rooms housed in the Rococo designed palace are rich visual gems.
The UNESCO World Heritage Site Bamberg, located in the Franconia region of Bavaria seems is a city that feels straight from an old location. Hilly scenes, Middle Age Architecture, Wooden fronts, narrow streets, it is no wonder the 80.000 inhabitant municipality is one of the prettiest in Germany. Good for a pub crawl, however, the famous Smoked Beer still needs to grow on me.
That orange bag is ubiquitous. The most downloaded app in 2024 was the low priced Chinese shopping platform TEMU. The low priced products have proven a success with buyers in uncertain times. This past October the Shanghai giant recorded 52 million downloads in the US. Offering everything from fast fashion bags to cutlery, Temu has lured customers away from rivals Shein and Amazon with its cut throat pricing and marketing to young customers.
Everything disposable is the “New Black. ” Hyper consumption lives to fight another day.
The new Berlinale Poster, released the last week of December shows a new modern style. The number seventy-five features prominent at the right corner. Ditching film festival Bear artwork is supposed to signal change, breaking from the past, the arrival of a new era, a reinvention of a once significant February cinema event. But, is the new Berlinale just recycling the old with more colorful packaging? It takes more than shiny artwork to re-establish confidence in a film festival that has dug itself into a celluloid hole.
After a few conversations with some professional industry colleagues about the upcoming edition, we are starting to have more questions. What happened to doing something new? It is no secret the Berlinale fell behind, lacking the grandeur of Cannes, the artistic component of Venice, the hipness of Sundance or the commercial launching heft of SXSW, the space for change, a new way opportunity,is wide open in the German Capital. Yet, festival head Tricia Tuttle is on a Honey Moon press tour using pleasant Cucumber Salad language on how the festival looks to differentiate itself from the past. However, on closer examination, what changed appears unclear to regular Berlinale goers. One category eliminated, a new one added, the same past filmmakers with the similar thematic films appear on the schedule, again.
The wait and see game has started. Hopefully, the newly installed Berlinale team has not wasted precious good will.
A luxury Before Tacky podcast episode from the past with the Italian based brand The Outlierman. Andrea talked about the ultimate driving addition for the motor dandy.
