Destroying a Birkin Bag With Francesca Eastwood

For his latest destruction series photo shoot, young Hollywood provocateur Tyler Shields desecrated the ultimate luxury status symbol — an Hermès Birkin bag. And Shields didn’t opt for just any Birkin bag. He selected a red Crocodile Birkin VS, which he says he paid $100,000 for. Shields’s girlfriend, Francesca Eastwood, Clint Eastwood’s daughter, went on to obliterate the coveted handbag by chain sawing through it, setting it on fire, and chain sawing it some more — all while Shields pointed his camera at her.

Now the Internet is abuzz over the act, with one commenter writing on Shields’s Web site: “The money someone would have payed [sic] for the bag would have really gone to needy families or animals, get real!” Another on Jezebel called Eastwood “a horrible human being.” Eastwood has even received death threats over what she and Shields consider to be the creation of art. This isn't the first time the photographer has caused controversy. In 2011, he released photographs of "Glee" actress Heather Morris in a shoot that many complained glamorized domestic violence, and gory images of Lindsay Lohan covered in blood and pointing a gun at his head. Shields spoke to ARTINFO about the Birkin bag fiasco, describing how he acquired the iconic item, why he decided to destroy it, and how he’s going to try to win over critics with a $100,000 donation to a needy family — if somebody buys the photographs.

How did you meet Francesca?

A long time ago, almost a year maybe? A friend of mine was like, "You have to meet this girl, she’s amazing, you should shoot her," and we just did it, and we became friends for a while, and then we started dating.

How long have you been dating?

I want to say eight months.

Why did you decide to destroy a Birkin bag?

Well, I’ve been doing a series for a while where we sawed a pair of Christian Louboutins in half, and whenever I asked anybody, “What’s the best brand? What’s the biggest thing?" Everyone said, "the Birkin," and then I looked it up, and the cheapest one is like $30,000. There’s a waiting list to get them — these things are amazing. And when I was in London doing my last gallery [exhibition] I ended up getting the opportunity to get one, and I did.

Where did you get the bag?

I got it from — basically one of my very good friends over there has a bunch of them, and they set me up with the person who they get them from, and somebody brought me one in the trunk of a Bentley.

I think if people are [upset] because I spent money on a photo shoot, then they should be upset about every single photo shoot that takes place ever. A $100,000 photo shoot, actually — Paris Hilton spent $200,000 on her album cover. The catering budget for the movie “John Carter” was $5 million. It takes money to make art. People spend money to make their work. If I was operating a McDonald’s, would people be upset because I bought inventory? How many people buy sports cars? How many people buy watches? What if I bought a $100,000 car and I crashed it? I’m not taking anything away from anybody else. That’s the thing, somebody wrote me an email, and she was very upset, and she was like, “How could you do this? You should have given that money to me.”