Much like Ann Peebles and Missy Elliott before him, Louis Vuitton can’t stand the rain. We received incontrovertible proof of this fact in June, when the brand reportedly hired a Brazilian shaman to keep the rain away during its outdoor shows.
Next week, Christie’s auction house’s 25th-anniversary sale will feature Louis Vuitton’s limited-edition 1996 “Shopping in the Rain” backpack/umbrella hybrid, presumably for when the shaman simply cannot get the job done.
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The umbrella is estimated to sell at between $1,500 and $2,000, approximately 300 times the price of your janky Duane Read umbrella and 60 times the price of your garbage Jansport. Sure, we may live in an uncertain era for the luxury-goods industry, but can you really put a price on the efficiency of a backpack that’s also an umbrella? Included in the extremely normal price is an umbrella cover and “Christie’s dustbag,” which…sure.
The ingenious monogram creation from Louis Vuitton’s mid-1990’s harkens back to a simpler time just a few years later, a time when Diddy still went by “P. Diddy” and employed a “Personal Umbrella Handler” by the name of Fonzworth Bentley. Folks, get yourself to auction next week and become your very own Personal Umbrella Handler, without so much as having to graze an umbrella handle.
Picture it: You’re out for a leisurely afternoon stroll on the Bowery, backpack on, making your way from McNally Jackson to the Maryam Nassir Zadeh boutique, when you hear the unmistakable rumble of thunder overhead. Passersby flee and pigeons disperse as the first drops of rain come tumbling down, but you merely pause in the middle of Orchard Street to extract the hidden umbrella from your backpack, murmur your thanks to Louis Vuitton and continue on, unbothered.
