Colloquially referred to as the ‘rats of the sky’, the common wood pigeon is not a beast you would ordinarily associate with a prestigious art museum – that is, until, Jonathan Anderson entered the chat. The designer’s much-memed pigeon clutch – originally debuted at JW Anderson’s AW22 men’s collection – has found a new home at the Louvre, nestled alongside the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo and the wider canon of Western art.
The clutch is part of the Parisian museum’s new exhibition Louvre Couture, a 100-piece exploration of the fashion world’s relationship with the Louvre’s own collection. The museum’s first ever fashion exhibition in its 231-year history, rather than have its own dedicated space the pieces will be dotted throughout the 9,700-square-foot Department of Decorative Arts to “highlight existing parallels” with items in the archive. At the moment, the J-Dubs pigeon bag is being exhibited next to a Eucharistic dove from Limoges in France, a religious ornament dating back to the 1200s.
But despite that obviously high-brow excursion, this week our little pidge has also shown he gets down and dirty with the best of them. Just in time for Valentine’s Day, JW Anderson has released a special, kinked-up edition of the infamous clutch, and this time he’s in a leather harness with a detachable lead, perfect for getting walked in the local park or strung up in a local sex dungeon. Though a hit online, the original bag was a bit cumbersome to carry as a clutch, so this new addition is sure to make that whole process a lot easier.
The pigeon, complete with its “BDSM-inspired harness strap” is part of Dover Street Market’s new LOVE HURTS collection, a curated selection of items inspired by love and heartache from 15 designers including Anderson, Aaron Esh, Chopova Lowena and more. Going from the Louvre to anal lube is no mean feat, but this pigeon has slipped into his new, sexy outfit like a pro. So, whether he’s dabbling in a spot of auto-erotic asphyxiation or going hell-for-leather with another feathered friend, he seems to be having a whale of a time, and we couldn’t be happier for the little guy.
The JW Anderson BDSM pigeon clutch is available at Dover Street Market Paris. Scroll through the gallery above for Anderson’s most recent collection.