Drake is on the cover of The Hollywood Reporter this week discussing, among other things, his plans to take a year off to work on various film projects and his hunt for a $160,000 first edition Harry Potter book. Elsewhere in the profile is a three sentence detour about his romantic endeavors in which he "deflects questions about his love life" but does drop a detail about what his future wife can expect after saying "I do."
"[Drake] reveals that he has been collecting Birkin bags for years, a gift for 'the woman I end up with,'" Tatiana Siegel writes.
Yes, it would appear that if you are the lucky lady who ends up being Mrs. Aubrey Graham (or maybe you keep your own name, it's your life) there is a well-lit room somewhere in Toronto that is housing several $10,000+ handbags waiting just for you.
So here's the question: Is this cute? My first instinct was to think about how rocking a Birkin is a time-honored flex and how much I'd like to own one. My second instinct is that it's creepy that Drake is stockpiling bags for a woman he has presumably not met yet. A woman who might prefer a custom Commes Des Garçon gown from Rei Kawakubo herself. Or maybe a signed Michael Jordan Bulls jersey from 1996. Or maybe she would simply want to spend quality time with a husband who is always on the road performing for tens of thousands of adoring fans (which she knew was part of the deal when they got married but thought that things might ease up once he actually put a ring on it).
Acclaimed author Roxane Gay falls on the side of Drake's Birkin collection being bad. In a tweet she called his behavior "a thirst dowry."
Gay is, as she frequently is, right. This behavior isn't romantic. The assumption Drake seems to have, that any woman he settles down with would want a Birkin, casts women as a monolith. Also: What if Drake picked ugly bags? The man is gauche as hell and maybe his future wife's tastes veer toward the minimal.
Verdict: Not cute. Buying gifts for your partner is great and lovely, but said partner should probably exist first.
