Frank Gehry’s Louis Vuitton Handbag

Far be it from me to pass judgment on a high-style accessory; I’m wearing a Max Studio blazer I bought second-hand at Second Mile Thrift in West Philly. So I’ll let others, like The Architectural Review’s Andrew Ayers, do the talking. Ayers calls it “the most preposterous handbag in France.”

The very idea of the handbag makes Rory Scott, of Arch Daily, uncomfortable:

Architects being courted to produce expensive designer gewgaws is nothing new in itself. The pernicious cult of modern celebrity has inevitably seeped into architecture, and a rarified echelon of superstars now regularly churns out ‘signature’ designer items, such as furniture, shoes, handbags, yachts and watches. The feeling remains that this is all somewhat indulgently removed from the real purpose of architecture, but such troubling predispositions doubtless shrivel in the warm glow of luxury goods and luxury architecture.

There are many more words devoted to his latest building, the not unrelated Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, which is being called everything from “the Sydney Opera House crossed with a blimp” to “a late-career triumph.”

Whatever you think of it, you can’t buy the building. The handbag, however, is for sale.

AR Issues: Architecture Has Nothing in Common with Luxury Goods [Arch Daily]