It’s a Birkin! No, a Dior. No, a Balenciaga. What in the World is It?

For years, the “made in” label has been shorthand for certain stereotypes. Quality in craftsmanship, in materials, in taste if it’s “Made in Italy” or “Made in France.” Mass labor, mass markets and mass counterfeits is it’s “Made in China” or “Made in Bangladesh.” Whether these labels are based in reality or simply emanations of a joint consumer fantasy is increasingly debatable.

So what to make of a handbag that is “Made in Peru” … and Portugal and India and China? Not only that, but one that is a mash-up of an Hermès Birkin, a Celine Luggage bag, a Dior Saddle Bag and a Balenciaga Hourglass?

Such is the Global Supply Chain Telephone Bag, the latest piece of fashion performance art from the creative collective known as MSCHF.

Unveiled just in time for Fashion Month, the GSCTB is a Frankenstein accessory built via a telephone game of design in four far-flung countries and intended, like most of what MSCHF does, to expose consumer myths about concepts like “value,” “authenticity” and “style.” By elevating the links in the supply chain to the role of designer, the collective is skewering the whole idea of the It bag and dupe culture.

To that end, the exercise is both sophomoric and profound, like most of MSCHF’s work, an approach that has brought the group something of a cult following with collectors who include Tony Fadell, a creator of the iPod and iPhone, and Tierra Whack, the rapper.