Social media reacts to $1,850 raggedy Balenciaga sneaker, calls out 'cosplaying (as) poor'

Balenciaga's latest release is a luxury shoe that's seen better days — and it's receiving backlash fresh out of the box.

The European fashion house recently released a "retooled" version of its Paris sneaker Monday that includes ripped and decaying canvas material, frayed shoestrings, and dirty scratched-up leather with Balenciaga written across the sole in what looks to be permanent marker. An adulteration to Balenciaga's unsoiled $625 Paris sneaker, the distressed version costs more than double: $1,850.

With the high price tag, some on social media are calling the label's target audience the "ultra rich cosplaying a poor."

"A dedicated campaign shows the shoes extremely worn, marked up, and dirtied. These still life portraits, by photographer Leopold Duchemin, suggest that Paris Sneakers are meant to be worn for a lifetime," Balenciaga wrote on its website announcing the new footwear.

"I’m sure Balenciaga and their shoes is a social experiment to see how far humans will go just to buy something for the brands name," @camwild wrote on Twitter.

"Balenciaga tryna sell the shoes I threw out last week back to me for $1850," @CellerySalt wrote.

"Another episode of 'Rich people think looking homeless is just an edgy trend,'" @mermaid_jinx commented on Instagram fashion blog Diet Prada.

More: Looking poor on purpose is a trend, but why?

USA TODAY has reached out to Balenciaga for comment.

Balenciaga has a history of making a commodity out of clothes and style choices that have been historically criticized and considered lesser than when it doesn't carry a designer label. In 2021, fashion watchers called out the release of Balenciaga's Trompe-L'Oeil pants (a $1,190 pair of sweatpants with green boxers sewn in the top to mimic a sagging look) for cultural appropriation. The style of dress has been made popular in Black communities and by some hip-hop artists but at the same time has been used as an identifier to police young, Black men as well.

Faux Pas:Balenciaga accused of cultural appropriation over $1,190 sweatpants

However, Balenciaga isn't alone in the "poverty chic" trend. In 2018, shoppers scratched their heads at the celebrity-loved, faux-distressed Golden Goose sneakers before some shelled out $530 for their own taped-up pair, a version of the shoes that others described as "awful" and "insensitive."

"Extremely blind and callous wealth inequality. It's like they looked at Golden Goose and were like 'Hold my beer,' " @brookedensmorewilliams commented on the Diet Prada's post of the Balenciaga shoes.

Gucci put out their own less-than-luxury-looking dirty sneakers in 2019.

Experts say people embrace this aesthetic for a variety of reason, but a big one is to exhibit relatability.

"(It) is a little bit misguided," Susan Scafidi, author of "Who Owns Culture: Appropriation and Authenticity in American Law" told USA TODAY in September. "Because it erases the reality of why someone might be wearing clothes that are dirty or ripped or ill-fitting."

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Some make the argument that these distressed styles celebrate communities, Darnell-Jamal Lisby, fashion historian and assistant curator for the Cleveland Museum of Art, told USA TODAY in September, adding that there is a disconnect when brands cherry-pick from communities that have been historically neglected.

"They're not actually using these collections as teaching moments, educational moments for people to really understand the history of our world, the history of all these other communities that they're taking inspiration from," Lisby said.

Contributing: Sara M. Moniuszko

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Balenciaga releases $1850 distressed sneaker, social media reacts