Haaland’s Hermès – Erling Haaland’s viral Hermès collection has become a side story at the World Cup—complete with fashion breakdowns, player comparisons, and a wave of comments questioning his masculinity. While some users reacted with homophobia, stylist and TikToker Jack Savo
On the tarmac, the bags were there before the headlines were. Photos of Norwegian striker Erling Haaland—six foot five inches. shoulder-length blonde hair. the kind of gestures that match his Viking pedigree—circulated as he traveled ahead of the World Cup. And then, almost immediately, the conversation moved somewhere unexpected.
Stylists and fans didn’t just notice the attention. They noticed the Hermès.
A couple of weeks before the tournament. stylist and TikToker Jack Savoie pointed to something Haaland is known for beyond his game: his collection of Hermès bags. In a video that quickly went viral—one that has now passed 10 million views—Savoie asked. “Have you seen Erling Haaland’s custom Birkins?” and told viewers. “Baby. buckle up.”.
When Savoie later spoke by phone, he clarified what the internet might have simplified. “OK the first thing I should say is that they’re not all Birkins,” he said. Many of Haaland’s bags are actually Haut à Courroies (HAC). the model the Birkin is based off. but with a slightly taller and narrower profile.
The difference doesn’t blunt the impact. In Savoie’s breakdown. Haaland carried a special edition “Endless Road” HAC that he reportedly deplaned with in North Carolina ahead of the World Cup. The bone-colored bag is decorated with a patchwork of blue and gray leather forming a mountain highway scene. Savoie also described a moss-colored canvas HAC and a black-and-orange checkerboard HAC.
The detail that made the internet lean in, though, was about stacking luxury. Savoie said Haaland was even spotted with his girlfriend, Isabel Haugseng Johansen, “Birkin 25 tucked inside his HAC 50.” “He was doubled up on Birkins, it was so chic,” Savoie said.
Haaland isn’t alone in the World Cup’s fashion spotlight. Savoie pointed to other players: Argentinian superstar Lionel Messi traveling with a pocket-festooned cargo HAC 40. Dutch defender and fashion aficionado Virgil van Dijk with a putty gray leather one. and David Beckham. who “seemingly has a small collection of XL-sized bags as well.”.
Fancy bags of all kinds are showing up around the tournament. The French men’s national team. one of the favorites to win the entire tournament. arrived with HACs. along with bags from Chanel and Louis Vuitton. French forward Marcus Thuram carried a bright green suede maxi flap bag from a Chanel collaboration with Pharrell Williams. Rayan Cherki carried an oversized Hermès Kelly Maxi.
But Haaland’s mix of physical dominance and luxury handbags has pushed the debate further than fashion. It has triggered another round of discussion about men—and the “innocent handbag.” In the culture that often treats handbags as coded signifiers. the juxtaposition of professional athlete “apex masculinity” and traditionally feminine markers can short circuit what people think a man is “allowed” to like.
That tension landed in cruel ways online. Photos of Haaland on the tarmac posted to social media were riddled with homophobia and comments that questioned the striker’s masculinity. One Instagram user wrote, “I will never understand why a grown man wants to carry a handbag.”
Other comments cut the other way. “So this is how I find out Haaland is a baddie???” one person commented.
Savoie framed the backlash as an outdated rulebook being challenged in real time. “I think for so long people have been told what they can and can’t wear. but there’s this shift where people are saying. ‘I don’t care. ’” he said. “If it makes me happy, I’m going to wear this in the way I want to wear it.”.
He pointed to the growing visibility of male athletes wearing high-end jewelry like Van Cleef & Arpels on the playing field, even when the specific pieces have more feminine associations.
That irony is hard to ignore with the handbag itself. The Hermès HAC is often categorized as hyperfeminine today. but it was created in the late 19th century as a carryall for horse riding equipment—similar to other brand offerings at the time. The brand. Savoie said. wouldn’t introduce a handbag specifically marketed toward women until many decades later. when it expanded its offerings beyond leather goods.
“I think there’s just an increasing appreciation for beautiful things, gender aside,” Savoie said. “I don’t even know why these bags have genders.”
For all the chatter about his choices, Haaland doesn’t appear bothered by any of it. On the pitch. he scored a pair of goals in each of his first two appearances in this year’s World Cup. That achievement made him only the sixth player to ever score a pair of goals in each of his first two World Cup appearances.
Savoie said the combination—physical prowess and “stellar taste”—only widens Haaland’s pull. drawing in people who might not have been paying attention before. “It just adds another layer to his lore,” he said. And for some fans. the handbags aren’t a distraction at all; they’re proof that the sport’s spotlight is expanding beyond the usual script. even if the internet still tries to force it back into shape.
Erling Haaland Hermès Birkin Haut à Courroies World Cup Jack Savoie Lionel Messi Virgil van Dijk David Beckham Marcus Thuram Rayan Cherki masculinity debate