The recent adoption of the plastic mesh bag by Louis Vuitton as part of its summer collection marks the final turn in the gentrification of the most abiding symbol of itinerant women traders and migrants.
Designed by Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton, the bag is part of a trend in which cheap and popular bags are being remodelled by the big fashion house only to emerge as chic products. The posh version of the bag is made of lambskin and comes in manageable small and big sizes — unlike its stepsister in the streets that can be so voluminous that it can carry a medium-sized television.
Dubbed the Zimbabwe bag in Southern Africa because it is the bag of choice of the hundreds of thousands of women cross-border traders who prop up the Zimbabwean state, or what little remains of its economy. When the traders’ contribution to the economy is documented, the most fitting symbol might well be this bag — a metaphor of their resilience, daring and ruggedness.
Its current association with beleaguered Zimbabwean traders is yet another instance of its long, drawn-out love affair with misery. This relationship was cemented in West Africa, where its identity is interÂwoven with that of Ghanaian immigrants.
In Nigeria it is derisively called the Ghana-must-go bag; this harks back to the time when it was the bag of choice for the about two million foreigners — the majority of them Ghanaian immigrants — who were expelled from Nigeria and had to carry enamel cooking utensils and other personal belongings in the bags.
You will find the bag everywhere: on trains, on planes and on buses. They carry anything from yam tubers, grain, groceries and smoked fish to printers and computers.
Unlike other lesser bags it does not buckle under pressure. It’s reputed to carry more luggage than anything else of similar value and price on the market, which might well explain its other name Efiewura sua me (help me carry my bag).
Those who have bought the bag for between R10 and R30, depending on size, at Johannesburg’s Park Station will be shocked to discover that the smaller version of the bag from LV is a staggering R14 300 and R22 600 for the bigger-sized one.
There has been a deluge of blogs on the subject of this transformation. ‘Most class-conscious Nigerians will not be found using it to carry personal belongings [except maybe shopping] as it’s associated with poverty,†someone wrote.
Another blogger disputed this, pointing out that it is, in fact, the bag of choice for looters. ‘As far as I know, there’s no other bag being used by your friends here in Nigeria in the movement of cash from one office to their homes like this one.â€
Pascalia Munyewende, a Zimbabwean professional based in Johannesburg, found the upward movement of the bag ‘very funnyâ€. She did not see herself queuing up for the bag, though. ‘Anyone who sees you carrying the bag won’t know it cost thousands unless you explain it to them. It’s so weird that the bag has come out looking like those cheap bags. We associate those with traders.â€
‘Its crazy,†a Kenyan professional, who refused to be named, said. ‘Does the person who came up with the original concept of the bag benefit?â€
If there is outrage at the appropriation of this plebeian symbol, there is also a guarded sense of triumph. Grass to grace, some say. Others point out that the ignominy of carrying the Ghana-must-go is forever gone. But there are still some who prefer the original cheap and versatile versions.
Perhaps the market should have the final say on the matter.