A safety pin is one of the humblest accessories in a woman’s collection. Used for pinning saree drapes, altering clothes temporarily, helping any wardrobe malfunctions on the go and many other mundane tasks, the safety pin is an essential tool for dressing. Packs of the pin retail for as cheap as Rs 20 for smaller variants and can go up to Rs 100 for the larger, higher quality ones, making it easily accessible to people of all tax brackets. Now one luxury brand has come to challenge that.
Prada, known for their luxury fashion and high-end products released a safety pin with a crochet detail and a charm for a whopping $775 which, when converted to Indian currency is an eye-watering Rs 68,758. Now the modest and trust-worthy safety pin has become more expensive than many people’s smartphones.
Internet goes ham about the Prada pin
Once popular influencers caught a hold of this, many started making videos about the Prada pin and the story quickly went viral. Instagram user refashionedhippie took to the social media platform to post a reel where she said, “I will once again ask rich people what it is that you are doing with your money. Because if you can’t think of anything, I assure you the rest of us can.”
The comments section was rife with other users mocking the luxury item. One user said, “”Luxury” Is just a money laundering scheme.” and received close to four thousand likes for it. Another user commented, “I’m positive girls in my grade one were making these in class. I hope they are making $775 for this skill” pointing out the ridiculousness of the item. Yet another user commented, “Prada is a joke now.”
X users weighed in on the item too, with one user posting, “Andhadhun Lootmaar by Prada. Their latest “luxury” item is a safety pin priced at $775 (₹68,758).” with replies ranging from shock to anger. One user replied, “Are you serious?! matlab Kuch bhi.. n people buy it!!” while another user commented, “Log kharid bhi rahe hai.”
“I’m late to the party but I had to share for those who may have missed it too. Prada has launched a basic safety-pin brooch that offers not a lot more than a friendship-bracelet aesthetic with a $750 price tag. Are luxury brands trolling us? Is this meatspace rage-baiting? Whatever it is, it’s gross and so emblematic of late-stage capitalism. Their ‘brooch’ comes in three dull colors: dolphin-tears blue, post-hope pink, and crisis-core orange,” X user Knit Hacker posted, clearly seething in anger.
From the mundane to the high-end
This is not the first time Prada has come under fire for repackaging humble working-class people’s items into luxury ones. Previously, Prada had listed a pair of flat leather sandals bearing a striking resemblance to Indian Kolhapuri slippers for Rs 1,00,000. These slippers usually retail between Rs 500 – 2000 in footwear stores, still making it vastly cheaper than the Prada pair.
In another instance, Prada released a silver tote bag worth Rs 2.73 lakh only for Indians to point out its startling similarity to Mumbai local’s flooring. It was relentlessly mocked and memes comparing the two flooded social media for days, so it is safe to say that Prada is no stranger to controversy. Whether a gimmick item or not, Prada could stand to do better as a heritage luxury brand as these controversies become unamusing the more frequently they happen. Currently, the link to the item appears broken as clicking on it only redirects users to the Prada homepage.
