We’ve noticed some outrageous designer collaborations lately—Cynthia Rowley‘s patterned Band-Aids (a tin of 20 is $10 U.S.) rank among the more ludicrous while somehow still being covetable—but fashion water bottles are surely the most absurd.
The other week, a bottle of San Pellegrino was delivered to the office, its exterior covered in a patchwork sleeve made from Missoni fabric. What a terrific waste of material, we thought. Apparently created to promote Italian-made products, the bottles that will be sold in stores won’t have the cover; they’ll sport a pretty label instead.
Evian has been in the collab business since before it was trendy; the company has released a new bottle annually for the past four years. Fashion icons Christian Lacroix, Jean Paul Gaultier and Paul Smith have taken part. Today, its newest creation, an Issey Miyake–styled vessel decorated with a pink flower, was unveiled. A 750-millilitre glass bottle will cost $5; the press release encourages consumers to keep the bottles for use as vases.
Presumably, the colourful designs are an effort to add value and prestige to the product, an important public relations goal at a time when it’s becoming less and less acceptable to drink bottled H2O; San Pellegrino is aided by the fact that bubbles don’t come out of the tap—unless you’re at an Oliver and Bonacini restaurant, that is.
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