Birkin handbags can cost more than $100,000, but if you're director Clint Eastwood's teenage daughter, that's money to burn.
Francesca Eastwood, 19, star of the E! reality show "Mrs. Eastwood & Company" and her boyfriend, photographer Tyler Shields, posted photos to his website of one of the pricey bags being bitten, sawed with a chainsaw, and set on fire.
"Destruction is a beautiful version of freedom," the copy on the page read. "Would you want this bag? Are you sad to see me destroy it?"
Many who commented on Shields' site were less than impressed with the gesture.
Wrote one reader, "Destroy fakes and donate the ridiculous amount of money you would have spent to charity. That would have been 'a beautiful version of freedom...'"
Said another, "I had been a fan of your work for about five years, but, I vow to never give your photographs another glance now. This is incredibly insensitive to those in financial need, and, frankly, an embarrassment for the both of you. This is not artistry; it's a pathetic attempt at shock value."
Still others were more succinct about the action. Said one, "Go and work for a living and see if you burn a 100k bag. Hell you wouldnt even be burning a 50 dollar bag. That is NOT art losers."
But others defended Shields and Eastwood. Wrote one: "What the media fails to do is point out all the charities Tyler has donated to, along with all of the other amazing things he has done. It's a lot easier to HATE someone when you don't know anything about them."
An earlier post on Shields' website shows him destroying a pair of pricey Christian Louboutin high-heeled shoes. That post ends with the line, "Never let an object own you."
Shields and Eastwood are regulars on "Mrs. Eastwood & Company," which focuses on Dina Eastwood, wife of director Clint, as she manages a boy band, Overtone. Clint Eastwood has said he does not want to be a large part of the reality show.
Watch the clip from "Mrs. Eastwood & Company."
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