Faux Real? The RealReal Celebrated its Fake Bag-Filled Canal Street Installation With a Cocktail Party

On Tuesday evening, on New York City’s fake-bag-row (Canal Street), The RealReal launched an inspired installation that had guests dumbfounded. The venue’s exterior had a sign on the glass that read “Monday: CLOSED. Tuesday: CLOSED. Wednesday: CLOSED,” which immediately intrigued.

Guests pulled up to a storefront that seemingly displayed designer handbags on pedestals; nothing out of the ordinary for a space owned by the world’s largest online marketplace for authenticated luxury goods. However, upon entering the space, guests soon found out that the bags were really fake. The social experiment left fashion lovers buzzing with questions: “I would have never known that Park Tote from The Row wasn’t real leather!” “The green on that Balenciaga is a little too green to be real…” “Wait a second.. Even though I know that Goyard is fake I kind of want to buy it?” The inquisitiveness towards the bags gave way to a more existential question: What is real, and what is not?

To keep the space pristine, guests Laverne Cox, Jeremy O’Harris, Meadow Walker, Selah Marley, and Katerina Tannenbaum proudly slipped blue shoe covers to tour the superfake handbags on display. Hunter Thompson, director of authentication, gave white-glove service to show off the white-lie pieces. He notes, “The most gratifying part is each and every time we take a fake handbag off the market since we don't always know the origins - sometimes we don’t know the dangerous story, but we know we’re doing the right thing.” In some instances, the authenticators cannot distinguish between a real and a fake bag with the naked eye. Enlisting the help of the FBI, special technological equipment, and looking at the incoming pieces on a cellular level is the only way to parse out the counterfeit.

Kristen Naiman, chief creative officer, has a clear stance on The RealReal’s mission. “We believe in authenticity; that's what we’re about. It's a complicated topic in this world because now fakes have moved on from being provocative and they’re run by drug cartels. You think fast fashion is bad, these bags are completely toxic with no regulation whatsoever, and no one’s really talking about it.” The topic of fake bags is complicated because it enlists a larger cultural conversation around fashion identity. Naiman explains “You're in this situation where it's like ‘Why do I need these status symbols?’ Maybe the sense of style is the real status symbol. Maybe being your authentic self is the highest fashion status you can achieve.”

The installation is available for passerby through September, and will feature special classes and events on the upstairs level, encouraging all consumers to challenge what they know about counterfeit goods and spark meaningful conversation around what is really, real.