The Birkin, version Thursday Friday

The shopping bags à la Birkin from the Californian label Thursday Friday -- somewhere between fashion and readymade student humor -- are flying off the shelves so quickly that their customers, like the clients of the Parisian house Hermès, have to sign up on a waiting list.

Given the capacity of Thursday Friday's first creation to make the fashionistas' heads turn, Anya Hindmarch and her "I'm Not A Plastic Bag" might have something to worry about. It seems that the designers of the Californian label, by tapping into one of the headlining products of the fashion world, were on the right scent.

With the right touch of humor and technique, these Andy Warhol-like apprentices decided to democratize the famous Hermès bag that only the very privileged can usually obtain. They came up with the idea to scan each surface of the Birkin bag, and then printed the scanned images onto a normal cotton bag, creating an intriguing, highly desirable effect.

The confrontation between extreme luxury, symbolized by the house of Hermès, and the utilitarian nature of a banal shopping bag resulted in a somewhat tongue-in-cheek version of a Birkin reduced to its basic function of a carryall.

Conceptual, original, perfectly in step with the latest fashion masstige collaborations (e.g., Lagerfeld for Macy's, Lanvin for H&M), and with an unbeatable price, the Together bag immediately attracted the attention of the accessories addicts looking for easy to carry yet out of the ordinary.

It is easy to understand why, only several months after launching the Together bag, Thursday Friday finds itself unable to fulfill the increasing demand by the fashionistas wanting to acquire a bit of French chic.

It remains to be seen if Hermès will see this initiative more as homage or as a case of plagiarism. The Parisian house has not yet issued a comment - perhaps they are too occupied with their financial litigations with LVMH...

Expected retail price $35 (26 euros) per bag (3 month waiting list)
Official site: http://www.thufri.com/