The most aspirational thing a supermodel like Irina Shayk can carry is a micro bag, a man bag, a vintage bag, an anti-It bag, or, plot twist, no bag at all. But for those of us who grew up in the early ’00s, there remains a pedigree of an entirely different kind: a miniature, pure-bred dog stuffed into an incredibly expensive Birkin. (The rarer the better on both counts.) Looks like Shayk got the memo.
It was during the 2000s that celebrities first embarked on a race to own the smallest dog possible, long before Pilaf covered Dogue. Paris Hilton would venture on pap walks with her Chihuahua Tinkerbell; Lindsay Lohan with her Maltese Chloe; and Britney Spears with her diminutive Yorkie London. These beady-eyed mutts would almost always be photographed peeking out from a designer bag worth more than the average person’s rent. It was considered glamorous, excessive, frivolous, until rehoming centers experienced a surge in the number of pups being taken into care after growing too large for their owner’s holdalls.
