The Things We Carry: Luggage Is This Year’s Hottest Fashion Accessory

At this year’s Hypefest, a festival dedicated to streetwear and the culture around it, I stood in front of an airport luggage carousel. Groups of kids in Supreme, one with a Bape jacket zipped all the way to the top of his head (effectively blinding himself), milled around and tried desperately to buy a special-edition product on their phones. They were standing outside a brand’s booth pestering the attendees—it’s not working, they’d argue when their purchases failed. That was all normal. The less-normal thing? The extremely hot desirable product was a piece of luggage. Pulled along by a slow-moving conveyor belt were see-through Rimowa carry-ons stuffed with magazines covered by the collaborator responsible for the luggage: Virgil Abloh. Kids at Hypefest got upset about all sorts of failed purchases, and it wasn’t just standard streetwear fare like hoodies, sneakers, tees. In 2018, luggage, too, is now something to be coveted, hunted, collected, and mad about. Read more at GQ.