Today Hailey Bieber joined the likes of many a young urban professional in the quest to appropriate utility-wear.
Bieber’s is the latest smooth, uncalloused hand to grab a work jacket off the rack. Unlike the more affordable pieces on the market, though, the model and skin care entrepreneur donned a bomber jacket from the Belgian brand Meryll Rogge that costs $1,700—nearly 16 times the price of the ubiquitous Carhartt barn jacket.
Bieber arrived for dinner at Craig’s in her boxy, $80,000 Tesla Cybertruck, creating a very stark juxtaposition with her clothing choice. (Suddenly, I need Sally Rooney to write a novel with strong Marxist overtones about this!) Underneath the taupe canvas jacket with a corduroy collar, Bieber wore a cropped white shirt. On the bottom, she added a pair of oversized, baggy blue jeans which dragged under the heels of her black square-toed boots as she walked. She accessorized her look with a pair of slim black sunglasses.
It would be reductive to only single out Bieber for wearing utilitarian clothing. Plenty of people who aren’t laborers have borrowed the wardrobe, including Kaia Gerber and Brooklyn Beckham. But, similarly to when Bieber wore her poorly received “nepo baby” tee, the optics outweigh the intent.
SOVE, LESE, RMLA
