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Wealthy Londoners hide their £30,000 handbags in least relatable hack ever
Crime rates in London have been steadily rising in recent years, with city-dwellers concerned about phone thefts and thieves on e-bikes.
But one issue many of us don’t have to worry about is protecting our £30,000 designer bags from being stolen.
In a TikTok video, posted by @bagista.uk, one woman shows off perhaps the most unrelatable hack ever: how to keep her newly purchased Birkin bag safe.
In the clip, which has gained over five million views, she takes the designer bag out of its orange Hermès carrier bag and places her purchase in a plastic carrier bag – a Waitrose one, of course.
The caption reads: ‘POV: You just bought a Birkin but you live in London.’
Similar videos on TikTok have led influencers with very expensive tastes to proclaim ‘you can’t have anything nice’ in the capital.
Another TikToker, @somedayswithm, unboxed her Gucci purchase inside a small branded red bag and hid it in her handbag, while @viktorija_l, filmed herself concealing her expensive belongings (including a Birkin and diamond ring) as she landed on a flight into London, adding: ‘can’t wear anything nice these days.’
Birkin bags are notoriously difficult to get hold of – and that’s not just because of the eye-watering price tag, which often breaks into six figures. For example, on luxury reselling site, Madison Avenue Couture, there is currently a limited edition diamond encrusted crocodile skin Birkin selling for $525,000, approximately £415,000.
You can’t simply walk into a Hermès store and buy one off the shelf: there are waitlists, and ‘relationships’ with sales assistants to cultivate, before you can even think about being in with a chance to get one.
But despite this, it seems TikTok and Hermès have some crossover in their user base, as commenters on the videos shared similar stories of hiding their luxe purchases.
One user, Elle, wrote: ‘I sold mine, I honestly had such bad anxiety carrying it. I felt like it made me a target. I’ll take my plain vintage leather Dooney & Burke any day of the week.’
It’s worth pointing out here that Dooney & Burke bags, while considerably cheaper than a Birkin, are still around the £200 to £300 mark.
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Others, however, questioned what the point of buying a bag was if not to wear it out and about. One wrote: ‘Where will you wear it if wearing it out in public feels unsafe?’
Some recommended she take it out of the Waitrose bag, which they joked was also high-end. Andreas wrote: ‘Maybe use a Tesco bag instead of a Waitrose cause times are hard.’
While these videos are perhaps just as much about showing off wealth and high status as they are about street safety, the content creators do have a point.
No, we’re not all proud owners of a Birkin, but we do know what it feels like to clutch onto your phone tightly.
In fact, user Jennifer Lassiter wrote on TikTok: ‘I do the same when I go to the Apple store. I take my backpack.’ Newflower11 agreed: ‘I did the same when I left the Apple store with a new laptop.’
An estimated 78,000 people had their phones or bags snatched from them, around 200 a day, in the year leading up to March 2024, according to Home Office analysis of data from the Crime Survey for England and Wales.
This is a 153% rise when compared to the 31,000 incidents of snatch thefts in the same period to March 2023. Unsurprisingly, London is the centre of these thefts, with 74% of phone-snatching incidents happening here.
But the survey also reveals that those in London are less likely to be a victim of crime than they are across the country as a whole.
In the capital, 14.9% of people experienced a crime to their person or their household in the year ending September 2023, compared with 15.7% nationally.
And, compared to other major global cities, such as Paris, London has a significantly lower crime rate.
According to the statistics website Numbeo, London’s crime index – an estimation of overall crime rates for a specific city or country – is moderate at 55, compared to Paris which is higher at 58.
However, it’s always good to have your wits about you. The Met Police warned that phone snatchers on bikes or mopeds will operate particularly at busy locations such as outside stations, shopping centres or concert venues.
They said that victims are often approached from behind while texting or talking on their phones.
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