Balenciaga decided to make people feel the need for a towel skirt by offering a beige terry cotton piece for USD 925 (RM 4,364), but IKEA then came up with an offer of its own that few would refuse.
Guided by its illustrious creative director Demna, Balenciaga has often released unusual designs with shocking price tags in the recent past. Among them are fully destroyed sneakers worth around USD 1,850 (2497.75) and a trash bag tote for USD 1,800 (SGD 2,430.24).
What is the Balenciaga towel skirt?
The Balenciaga towel skirt comes from the brand’s Spring 24 Collection and went online for pre-order on the official site of the high fashion house on 14 November.
The 100 percent cotton fabric is fashioned to be a wrap skirt and has two buttons at the waistline inside. It comes with an adjustable belt with a buckle on the inside. Balenciaga’s logo is embroidered tone-on-tone at the front.
Of course, the high price of the Balenciaga towel skirt raised eyebrows of people on the Internet.
“Balenciaga Towel Skirt! Now you can dry off AND turn heads with your questionable fashion choices for only $925 USD!” wrote a user on X (formerly Twitter). Others posted pictures of their own washroom towels to take a swipe at Balenciaga.
How did IKEA troll Balenciaga?
The classiest swipe perhaps came from IKEA. Soon after Balenciaga dropped the towel, the Swedish multinational advertised its own VINARN bath towel on its official UK Instagram page. The picture showed a model striking a pose similar to the one on Balenciaga’s official site while wearing IKEA’s towel.
IKEA even went to the extent of calling the towel a “2024 Spring fashion essential.” And the price? Just GBP 16 (around USD 20 or RM 93).
This is not the first time that IKEA and Balenciaga lit up social media with similar products. In 2017, Balenciaga under Demna created a tote bag similar to IKEA’s blue Frakta shopping bag and priced it at USD 2,145.
Following its release, IKEA issued a statement politely underlining that the original was far cheaper.
“We are deeply flattered that the Balenciaga tote bag resembles the IKEA iconic sustainable blue bag for USD 0.99. Nothing beats the versatility of a great big blue bag,” an IKEA spokesperson told Today.
(Main image: Balenciaga; IKEA UK/@ikeauk/Instagram; Featured image: Balenciaga)
This article was first published in LifestyleAsia Kuala Lumpur.
