my Princely little souvenir

here's my most prized souvenir from our recent trip: a Richard Prince for LV "Tag" necklace:




its an 18k rose gold bread clip (you know, those little plastic things that seals a bag of sliced bread) i purchased from the Matsuya Ginza LV boutique in Tokyo. at first i thought it was just a simple dog tag, but on close inspection they did resemble bread clips. here's a comparative photo of the real thing with its luxe version:




i love how LV makes ULTRAluxe versions of the most mundane things. remember those Chinatown laundry bag-looking Street Shopper totes made out of woven calfskin? i totally get it, but not a lot did. so i was even more excited and amazed when the SA told me the tags were by Richard Prince.

SOLD!

here's a clearer photo of the front:





and a shot of the back bearing the artist's signature:





the bags he's collaborated for LV this season also bear his signature. i guess this makes them more like wearable art pieces than just bags or jewellery.



i did a little research about the background of these golden bread clips and i've come across an article about Richard Prince's Second House art installation that included a "necklace fashioned from bread fasteners". this house sadly got struck by lightning and burned to the ground in June 2007. more info about about the artist and the house's sad ending HERE.


i'd say these golden LV versions have now turned into a little memento mori for the ones that perished. these bread clips made their debut on the neck of Marc Jacobs when he took his bow at the LV Spring/Summer 2008 show:




he's wearing my tag's more opulent siblings.




here's a clearer photo of the other variants:






one more pic of my little slice of the Richard Prince + LV mania about to sweep the world:




i've struck LV gold!