Balmain's $1,515 Embellished Flag-Print Silk Tank: Offensive Or Not? (PHOTO, POLL)

We're no strangers to Balmain's wares -- t-shirts ripe with rips and bleach stains with price tags reading in the thousands of dollars -- but one tank top in particular has some fashionistas and patriots alike fuming.

Presenting the "Embellished flag-print silk tank," a starred and striped shirt punctuated by burn holes and attached at the seams with safety pins. Yours for only $1,515, or it could have been, but it's currently sold out on Net-A-Porter.com. Celebs like Ke$ha and Kate Bosworth have recently been spotted in knockoffs of the number and similar styles have been stocked at Forever 21 and Topshop.

Retired Army soldier George Alatzas heard about spring's bestseller and told the New York Post, "I think it is a disgrace for a Frenchman or anyone else to desecrate the American flag. Our flag has witnessed many sacrifices. It is the glue that holds our patriotism together. Shame on those who defile it in any way."

However, Marty Callaghan, spokesman for the American Legion, explained to "The Today Show" that "there’s no breach of flag etiquette about wearing an article of clothing that happens to be red, white and blue, and that appears like a flag that might be tattered. Some people think these items are in bad taste, but there’s nothing we can do or can’t do to urge the manufacturer to halt sales of these items We have no issue with these fashion statements.”

For us, the most upsetting bit is the four-digit fee to, essentially, look like you were in a freak fire on the Fourth of July. What do you think?

Quick Poll

Balmain's flag tank:

OFFENSIVE...because of the message.

OFFENSIVE...because of the price.

OKAY! I might wear it.

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Comments

[carmenalex]

12:18 PM on 04/28/2011

Somebody made it for $3.00 and gullible rich people buy it for $1515. How nice. I made an almost identical shirt with pins and all in college, only instead of the flag it was a movie t-shirt about Leon (the professional) It looked cooler that this one and it cost me less than 5 bucks.

[satanlite]

11:08 AM on 04/28/2011

Aside from the offensive price for what is likely a product of slave labor, it just looks bad.

[Dorian Kunkel]

08:49 AM on 04/28/2011

It's not offensive - it's just damn ugly.

[Denalidog]

04:36 AM on 04/28/2011

come to think of it, I've got two pairs of jeans that already look like they would go with this; after I gained weight and couldn't get into them, I gave them to my huskies to play with. they are still out in the kennel. should I wash them & sell them on ebay?

[Denalidog]

04:31 AM on 04/28/2011

anybody who would pay that much money for that rag is seriously in need of a conservatorship!

[Ouill]

03:42 AM on 04/28/2011

I could never take anyone who buys, let alone wears, this seriously. In fact, I'd probably laugh in their face.

[Marcusarilius]

10:42 PM on 04/27/2011

America can use a little free advertising about now...

[alicks]

05:00 PM on 04/27/2011

Of course it's overpriced, it's high fashion - it always is!! Why is everyone so shocked at the cost?

[sugarcreekchile]

04:35 PM on 04/27/2011

Oh, please. It is not an American flag but reminiscent of one. The stripes aren't even going in the right direction. It's a $1515 rag that some idiotic celebs think is the height of fashion. May one of those uncomfortable safety pins pop open and prick them. This is a rag I would mop the floor with not something I would ever wear. Flag inspired images have been appearing on clothing for years so this is nothing new. Burn or spit on our flag and I'll raise Cain but this isn't a flag.

[bkitty1]

03:25 PM on 04/27/2011

people are just searching for things to be half-heartedly offended about these days. we've turned into a nation of drama queens and it sickens me. GTFover it please! the only thing offensive about this is how overpriced and ugly it is.

[lightist]

01:59 PM on 04/27/2011

If the flag is the "glue that holds patriotism together" it's no wonder this country is hanging by a thread.

[copelli21]

01:27 PM on 04/27/2011

For that price, that tank better be able to go into combat on my behalf.

[DrSnuggles]

12:55 PM on 04/27/2011

I find this offensive because it's ugly, don't really care about the content or the price.

[sho-nuff]

12:51 PM on 04/27/2011

the Brits do this all the time with their flag..see: Ben Sherman, Twiggy on HSN...In my opinion when your iconic symbols are used it means you got something...grow up Americans, you're NOT all that...seriously get OVER yourselves and chill OUT

[Wintersoldier7020]

03:49 AM on 04/29/2011

We are the world police, and the most important/ most watched country in the world. The only reason the Frenchmen used the American flag is because everyone in the world recognizes the flag, it's better than most flags, and it will sell.

[usamade]

11:21 AM on 04/27/2011

Why not put holes in their own flag? If not for America, they would have suffered more under German rule.

[dmac]

01:18 PM on 04/27/2011

If not for the Soviet Union, the Germans wouldn't have had to defend their own borders. If not for the Germans' lack of amphibious craft, they might have invaded via the Channel.

America's greatest contribution to the UK was supplies. Sold to the UK. Sold.

Actual history isn't reflected in movies.

[Momklok]

02:52 PM on 04/27/2011

Um, I think we contributed thousands of soldiers' lives to not only the UK but Western Europe.

[Wintersoldier7020]

03:38 AM on 04/29/2011

Quite the revisionist.