D&G is selling a monkey cap for Rs 40,000 and Bengalis are horrified

If you are Bengali, here's a business pitch for Shark Tank India Season 2: dig into your granddad's trunk and get that monkey cap out. Then call it a Ski Mask Cap. Then add a price tag: Rs 40,000. If not the Sharks, at least Dolce & Gabbana will invest in you.

What the: Italian high-fashion brand Dolce & Gabbana is selling something called a 'Ski Mask Cap'. The hefty price tag says Rs 40,000. You can currently get a ~discount~ of Rs 8,010. So, this Ski Mask Cap will cost you just Rs 31,990 at the moment.

If Rs 31,990 seems a tad too much for you, you can also avail an EMI option: pay D&G Rs 1,778 a month.

Now, a closer look at this expensive mask cap will remind you of the famous monkey cap that is a winter staple in every Bengali household. Or most elders in Indian homes. The versatility of the monkey cap is such that it seems to have now reached the Italian Alps.

Who found it: So, researcher Swati Moitra found this stunning fashion accessory on the luxury goods selling website Darveys and shared it on Twitter. Moitra is a Bengali, and she aptly described her emotions as 'horrified and vindicated'.

As a Bengali, I am horrified and vindicated. pic.twitter.com/fu8Wn5ToPa

— Swati Moitra (@swatiatrest) January 17, 2023

Horrified, of course. Vindicated? The humble monkey cap, subject of much ridicule, is finally getting its due it seems.

Twitter reacted to Swati's tweet in the best way possible, with some asking about the missing pompom; and someone asking where was this when 'my non-Bengali friends were making fun of our monkey toopi (cap) and Boroline'.

(The Boroline is another inseparable part of winter in West Bengal. Known for its miraculous properties, it ranks only slightly below Hilsa in the order of priority for Bengalis)

winter is here (in #bengal) pic.twitter.com/wbMZupPFQW

— Ananya Bhattacharya (@ananya116) January 2, 2023

FYI: The humble monkey cap has a name - balaclava. It is quite a common sight during winter in South Asia. Balaclavas sometimes come with a small pompom on top (and ask a Bengali - it is incomplete without that pompom).

An average monkey cap costs Rs 300 online, if you aren't the kind that likes braving the winter and going to the bazaar to buy one. If you are, then the best monkey cap will probably cost you Rs 150.

Update: The D&G Khaki Ski Mask Cap that we wrote so much about, thanks to that price tag, is currently sold out on Darveys. You may now join us in going and sighing in a corner.

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