Question for you.. how do you feel about money? Or more specifically about Birkin handbags? Do you even know what they are?
There’s a bit of Internet buzz today about a photo shoot involving the daughter of actor/director Clint Eastwood and her boyfriend, photographer Tyler Shields. Seems the two of them have been busy pushing buttons lately and this latest one is really burning some folks up, so to speak.
Tyler and Francesca took some rather incendiary pictures of her destroying a handbag, only this wasn’t an ordinary purse. It was a 100,000 dollar Hermes Birkin handbag. Well, that caused a firestorm of controversy and one that won’t be easily doused.
See, for those of you unfamiliar with this brand, this is a very, VERY high-end handbag, each one individually made and there’s usually a waiting list to get one. For her family’s show, Mrs. Eastwood and Company (which I have never seen, truth be told), Francesca, who apparently loves the Birkin (based on the copious number of tight shots and the time they spend talking about it) agrees to let Tyler destroy it for a photo shoot.
Okay, we get it.. she likes the bag. And of course, when you really, really, REALLY like something, this is what you do to it.
Well, that got the fashion world and their size zero jeans in a bunch, so much so that Francesca has even been subjected to death threats.
Okay, it’s her money (or rather her parents) so I suppose she could do what she wants with it. But there’s something about this that is so many shades of wrong. I know that’s Hollywood and this is the real world, but even filthy-stinking rich 18-year-olds have enough common sense to know not to set fire something that costs more money than most people will make in 3-4 years, right? Or do they? Shouldn’t they?
Personally I find the whole thing utterly repulsive. Yes, they have the money, but really? Now? When so many people are doing without, struggling and hurting? When job loss is at the highest it’s been in years and people are losing homes left and right, you burn a 100-000 hand bag, just because? And while we’re there.. a handbag that costs more than some people houses? Why?
Having said that, death threats do seem a bit severe for even a crime of fashion like this and the flip side of that coin is, it’s their money; don’t they have a right to do with it as they see fit?
So a couple of questions here:
Do parents have some sense of responsibility to make sure kids have at least a passing understanding of what’s going on in the word, even if they live in Hollywood? Are there just some things that are too over-the-top, like intentionally destroying a $100,000 purse?
Okay, lemme hear ya! Fire away!
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Ask Rene: I Lied To My Son About Making The Team
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