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Fashion Designer Under Fire For Handbag Allegedly Made With Human Spine

By Akinwale Akinyoade

21 April 2020   |   9:43 am

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When does fashion cross the line of decency? This Indonesian fashion designer just found out when he came under heavy criticism for a fashion handbag he allegedly created from alligator tongues and an “ethically sourced” human spine. It is interesting that the designer Arnold Putra first showcased the handbag in 2016 but it took a recent…

Spine handbag | Photo: @byarnoldpultra/Instagram

When does fashion cross the line of decency? This Indonesian fashion designer just found out when he came under heavy criticism for a fashion handbag he allegedly created from alligator tongues and an “ethically sourced” human spine.

It is interesting that the designer Arnold Putra first showcased the handbag in 2016 but it took a recent tweet about it for it to go viral.

Following the tweet, thousand flooded his Instagram page to check out the unusual bag that has a description that reads “alligator tongue and human osteoporosis spine bag by me.”

The one-of-a-kind basket-style handbag was reportedly manufactured in Los Angeles and has a price of $5,000. In the description on @byarnoldpultra, an Instagram account different than the designer’s personal one, the accessory is described as having the handle made “of an entire child’s spine who had osteoporosis”. The photos of the macabre accessory have been assaulted with negative comments in recent days.

Many have since slammed the fashion accessory as “a moral abomination” and “a total high crime against the concept of fashion, and even clothing itself.”

Many others agree that it is a disrespect for the death of a child and the accessory is neither art nor fashion.

Following the interest in the bag, an investigation by media houses as to whether the bag was indeed from a human spine was launched.

INSIDER contacted Putra himself about the handbag, asking him repeatedly if the spine had belonged to a child, but he declined to answer. Instead, he only said that the human spine had been “ethically sourced” from medical surplus in Canada.

Asked about the description mentioning a child who had suffered from osteoporosis, the Indonesian fashion designer said that the @byarnoldputra Instagram account was run by someone else and that he had only “contributed” to it.

INSIDER contacted two child osteopaths about Putra’s handbag, and they both agreed that the handle was almost certainly made from a human spine, although they couldn’t agree whether it belonged to a child.

Interestingly, the spine and alligator tongue bag is part of an unfinished collection “involving similar materials unprecedented in garment-making,” which also includes leather jackets featuring hand-fastened genuine human ribs.