Brown paper lunch bag (Photo courtesy | Shutterstock)
A regular brown paper bag (Photo courtesy | Shutterstock)

Costs £185 −and it sold out in little under three weeks! The humble brown paper lunch bag causing such a stir in the fashion world… Who’d have thunk it, non? Ah, allow me to fill you in on this madness.

The medium Vasari bag in brown at the Jil Sander A/W'12 runway
The medium-sized one…
Small Vasari bag in brown at Jil Sander A/W'12 runway
The small one…
The 'Vasari' bag in black at the Jil Sander A/W'12 runway
In black…

Friends, meet the Vasari bag, “crafted” out of “100% coated paper”. Off Raf Simons’s last menswear collection for Jil Sander − the Autumn/Winter 2012 one − the bag, featuring visible stitched seams at each side with two metal eyelets at the bottom and the Jil Sander logo at the centre of the interior base panel, has become all the rage since it hit stores three weeks back.

The 'Vasari' bag in black leather at the Jil Sander A/W'12 runway
In black leather…

And oh, this long rectangular silhouetted bag comes in leather too − and they cost only $379 and $509.

Jil Sander brown 'Vasari' bag (Photo courtesy | LN-CC)
Ta-da! (Photo courtesy | LN-CC)
Jil Sander black 'Vasari' bag (Photo courtesy | L'Inde Le Palais)
The black paper lunch (?) bag (Photo courtesy | L’Inde Le Palais)
Jil Sander 'Vasari' bag in black leather (Photo courtesy | Mr Porter)
The indulgent *humble* lunch bag (Photo courtesy | Mr Porter)

Jil Sander stores (both online and brick-and-mortar) have sold out on all forms of this glorified paper bag. And word on the street is that they are asking for stock back from outside retailers like… the über cool London boutique LN-CC, which still have the small-sized ones priced at £175 after selling out on the medium-sized ones costing £185and the Bologna-based concept store L’Inde Le Palais, which only have the black ones (see here and here).

@choupettesdiary tweeting about the Jil Sander Vasari bag
Even @choupettesdiary’s diary wants one!

The only explanation I can think of for the overwhelming popularity of the Vasari bag is that it’s the only affordable piece from the collection: people are buying it as keepsake from Raf’s last collection for Jil Sander. Now the all important Q: would you… ?!

The market acetate bag at the Jil Sander S/S'11 runway
Here’s the luxurious plastic carriier…
The Jil Sander 'Market Acetate' bag (Photo courtesy | Net-a-Porter)
The Jil Sander ‘Market Acetate’ bag… (Photo courtesy | Net-a-Porter)

Btw, this isn’t the first time that Jil Sander has flogged a mundane item from our everyday lives. The humble polythene shopping bag, that we toss away without thinking, too, got the fashion makeover in Jil Sander’s Spring/Summer 2011 collection! Yep, believe it or not, the ‘market acetate’ bag sold like hot cakes last summer.

Raf Simons taking his bow after the Jil Sander Autumn/Winter 2011 menswear show
The genius!

In conclusion: Raf Simons has the midas touch. #rafisagenius