January 6, 2025

This is a picture of a real Birkin, FYI. Photo-Illustration: by The Cut; Photos: Retailer

If you opened TikTok over the past week, you probably came across the app’s latest favorite viral dupe: a knockoff of the famous Hermès Birkin tote bag sold by the unlikeliest of places — Walmart. Instead of costing upwards of $10,000 for the real thing, shoppers snagged the clone for around $80. And they didn’t even have to spend thousands of dollars on Hermès ashtrays and shoes first. Along the way, some genius dubbed the Walmart Birkin “the Wirkin,” perfect for the wirkin class, and suddenly the tote was sold out on Walmart.com.

In a matter of days, the Wirkin has emerged as a new status bag in its own right, boosted by its Hermès-esque scarcity. Meanwhile, on TikTok, real Birkin owners are releasing “unboxing” videos, jokingly passing their real bags off as Wirkins.

Photo-Illustration: by The Cut; Photo: Getty Images

By Madame Clairevoyant

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It's our first day back at work after the holiday break, so let's ease in with some pictures first: There's Nat Geo's Photography of the Year 2024, and the best trail camera images captured this year as well. Then there's the new batch of Medal of Freedom recipients — of 19 honorees, four are women, and one of those women is Anna Wintour. Also, octogenarian Robert De Niro watches Miss Rachel with his 1-year-old daughter, but he's not doing any diaper duty. And Bad Bunny's new album, Debí Tirar Más Fotos, his "most Puerto Rican" yet, is garnering rave reviews. Give it a listen or two or ten.

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A biweekly newsletter interrogating modern family life, written by Kathryn Jezer-Morton.