Didn't U Hear? LL Bean's Boat Tote Procreated w/ a Birkin :D
^ THE AMERICAN DREAM; sorry if this one offends U </3
I’ve resisted this post since January….. but I fear the season of its relevance has come…. It’s time we talk about the villain of rich girl summer bag edits: Hathaway Hutton’s BOATKIN (which starts at $1.2K :D).
I understand that to SOME this is a silly-ha-ha, look ma I spent a weird amount of cash for a deconstructed boat tote with Birkin hardware!!!! And even I’ll attest that it’s the kind of flippancy the elusive (international) hot girl community usually eats up for BREAKFAST. I’ll even admit that while my first impression of the bag was, pass, I’d honestly assumed that I would eventually warm up to it as January thawed into June.
So imagine my surprise when I opened the Boatkin’s NYT article with faint optimism and left seething with disdain???? After sharing the article in a groupchat of chic perfect powerful EIHGs, my friends were declaring “discernment is dead”. And today, after posting about the boatkin on my CF story, I found that the majority of my expanded, elusive, and HOT rung of friends (some famous, some privé citizens of the world) were strongly ANTI the bag (in its premise and execution).
Which is interesting, because I started realizing that it exists on the same axis of performance as The Cut’s West Village Girl... in which case, the boatkin’s existence is far more political than anyone seems willing to talk about.
Before we dig in, I want to emphasize that this is NOT a snark page, meaning I don’t believe in tearing things down or making fun of what other people choose to consume, taste is relative, after all! HOWEVER, I couldn’t help but connect the boatkin to larger, systemic threads I’ve observed amongst a subset of wealthy (american) women (+ those who find their lifestyles aspirational)…… as we’ve discussed, I take the fact that Bourdieu never got to experience OUR culture seriously, and therefore, I hope to make him proud. Time 2 analyze/contextualize → → →
rhode, the boatkin, and the west village girl
