Category:
Overpriced Merchandise
We've posted about ripped jeans before. But these take the concept to a whole new level of grottiness.
You can purchase them via Bergdorf Goodman for only $2,450.
Recently a box of 40 Sato Nishiki cherries, grown in Yamagata, sold for close to $10,000.
More info from SoraNews24.com:
On January 5, at Ota Market’s first wholesale auction of the year in Tokyo, produce wholesaler Funasho Group claimed the winning bid for Yamagata-produced premium Sato Nishiki cherries. 500 grams (1.1 pounds) of the fruit sold for its highest price ever–1.3 million yen (US$9,842), which is 100,000 yen higher than the winning bid last year.
That's $250 per cherry.
SoraNews24 also notes that, when they sampled some Sato Nishiki cherries, "our team of writers had trouble telling them apart from regular supermarket ones."
Gucci is selling an
"Eco washed organic denim overall" that comes with a "stained-like, distressed effect." AKA fake grass stains. Yours for only $1400.
Or you could get this
Orange Tartan Cotton Long Smock Shirt. Only $2600!
Artist Maurizio Cattelan’s latest piece, consisting of a banana duct-taped to a wall, sold recently for $120,000.
Gallery owner Emmanuel Perrotin defended the work by saying, “It looks like a joke, but step back and look at it again, and it becomes so much more.”
The new owner will receive a certificate of authenticity. However, they’ll also be expected to periodically replace the banana (and presumably the duct tape also). Which begs the question: what did they actually buy? The
idea of a banana duct-taped to a wall, apparently.
I'm curious to know how long the owner will actually bother to replace the banana. Twenty years from now, will they still be replacing it every few days?
More info:
artsy.net
It actually sold for more than $4 million — $4,338,500, to be exact. It was taken by Andreas Gursky who titled it “Rhine II” because it shows a scene along the Rhine River. Its sale in 2011 made it (at the time) the most expensive photo in the world.
The pricetag astounded many people, since it kinda looks like a photo any amateur could and would take. Florence Waters, art critic for the Daily Telegraph,
offered this defense of it:
For all its apparent simplicity, the photograph is a statement of dedication to its craft. The late 1980s, when Gursky shot to attention, was a time when photography was first entering gallery spaces, and photographs were taking their place alongside paintings. Photography “as art”, at the time, was still brave and new, and the simplicity of this image shows a great deal of confidence in its effectiveness and potential for creating atmospheric, hyper-real scenarios that in turn teach us to see - and read - the world around us anew. The scale, attention to colour and form of his photography can be read as a deliberate challenge to painting's status as a higher art form. On top of that, Gursky’s images are extraordinary technical accomplishments, which take months to set up in advance, and require a lot of digital doctoring to get just right.
In its latest annual gift catalog, Neiman Marcus is offering a
champagne vending machine. It goes for a mere $35,000 — champagne not included.
Or, better idea,
buy this vending machine on eBay for $1700, and put some champagne (or another beverage of your choice) in it.
The latest offering from the brand Off-White is the Meteor Bag which has large holes in its sides, as if it’s been hit by meteors (or, perhaps, meteorites?). As a result, anything put into the bag will likely fall out.
The brand says that the bag is intended to be “unfunctional," and that it is, in fact, “challenging the concept of a bag itself.” What a relief someone is finally challenging the tyranny of functional bags!
The cost of the Meteor is a mere $1,665.
More info:
vogue.com
The latest ridiculously overpriced merchandise:
a single, black binder clip, from designer Off-White, going for $95.
The designer describes it as a 'pin,' which implies that it's meant to be worn as a fashion accessory, rather than used to hold paper together. Perhaps that's the reason for the high cost!
When only the best will do, then surely $495 isn't too much to pay for a water bottle holder. After all, the price includes 'complimentary' shipping. Available from
Smythson.com.