Nita Ambani’s Bag, Shloka Mehta’s Shoes. Why Do We Criticise Women For Flaunting The Wealth They Have?

There is no set formula for creating viral content anymore. The digital audience is fickle-minded and their taste in entertainment changes quite often. Having said that, there is one kind of story that always does well among netizens, the ridiculously expensive things celebrities own. This is especially true when it comes to women’s fashion, the pricey shoes and bags the world’s affluent population indulges in.

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Just yesterday we woke to a viral story about Nita Ambani’s more-expensive-than-your-house Hermès Himalaya Birkin. FYI, she was in a picture with Kareena Kapoor Khan and Karisma Kapoor and that bag is what made news!

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Here’s why the bag is a big deal: The Hermès Himalaya Birkin Bag is often regarded as the most desirable handbag in existence. It has more than 240 diamonds on its 18-karat-gold hardware. A bag like this is reported to be priced at over Rs 2.6 crore, crafted from Nile crocodile hide and named after legendary singer Jane Birkin. The line of Birkin bags is notorious for their shocking price tags and celebrity owners. Given that Nita Ambani is one of the world’s wealthiest women, are we really surprised? Regardless of whether or not we think it to be news-worthy, it made to almost every news publication. Why? It is indulgent, ridiculous and while we love the fabulous story behind it, we are still a little envious.

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Nita Ambani’s bag story came full circle when not a day later her daughter-in-law Shloka Mehta made heads turn for the same reason. Shloka stepped out with husband Akash Ambani for Yuvraj Singh’s retirement bash and everyone’s eyes went straight to her shoes. She chose to pair her underwhelming outfit with Sophia Webster’s iconic butterfly heels, which is reported to cost a little over Rs 50,000. Newsworthy? We think not, but people loved reading about it. Is the fact that Shloka had those pricey shoes out and about in the Mumbai monsoon the reason we talked about it? Maybe. Because are sliding along in our Crocs here.

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The use of expensive fashion items is not restricted to just entertainment anymore. Just today, there was hate directed towards Turkey’s First Lady Emine Erdoğan for her pricey arm candy. The bag is reported to cost around a whopping USD 50,000 and we are shook. The news organisations were quick to point out that if sold, the handbag could pay out a year’s minimum wage of 11 people. This is more shocking in the light of Turkey’s currency crisis, which the country has been trying to recover from. One newspaper reported, “While the citizens struggle with price hikes, the Palace does not step back from luxury,”.

While we do understand the outrage surrounding Erdoğan, this new obsession with pointing out women’s wealth is disturbing to us, Especially when we do not see similar stories about rich men going viral. Is it just us or this new obsession might just turn into something sinister?