Suddenly, wearing your dinner is a good look.
Just as a meal isn’t complete without the right ingredients, no outfit is complete without the right handbag.
And these days, the perfect purse might look a lot like the perfect ingredient, as fashionistas — including Hollywood types with taste like Melissa McCarthy and Julia Fox — tuck into an all-you-can-eat buffet of food-themed totes.
Susan Korn, founder of Susan Alexandra, was way ahead of the curve on the sizzling accessory — she’s been making nosh-themed accouterments since the beginning of her career.
“That’s mostly because food is one of the great loves of my life,” the 38-year-old, known for her beaded work, told The Post.
“I think about it all the time, and if I’m not eating, I’m thinking about my next meal. It’s just like, my whole universe is centered around food, so it’s always been a theme in my work,” she said.
“We all have to eat, and then there’s a large population of us who simply adore the act of cooking, eating, food writing — everything,” Korn explained. “These drink- or food-inspired bags — or anything, jewelry, clothing, etc. — it really appeals to all the foodies among us.”
The enthusiasm for cuisine carryalls has been boiling over — and just keeps heating up.
Korn’s customers are snapping up her Watermelon Dream Bag, Mini Martini Bag, Champagne Bag and a craveable Berry PEBBLES™ Breakfast Vignette Bag collab — the buzziest of the bunch.
Those looking to chow down on the hungry-making trend will find themselves spoiled by the current selection of carryalls — from a Bag-uette to a Sweetgreen Salad Tote — and they’re using them, as pros like Korn explain, as a way to express themselves.
There’s also Betsey Johnson, who has created a pink watermelon-shaped bag, a picnic basket bag and plenty of fruity-patterned handbags.
Designer Anya Hindmarch offers a gold sequined tote that resembles Kellogg’s Coco Pops cereal, a Kikkoman soy sauce mini bucket bag and a Crunch bar card case.
The retailer Lunchbox has a McDonald’s McFlurry Crossbody Bag and a KFC Chicken Bucket Fanny Pack.
Stoney Clover sells a pouch that looks like a heart-shaped ravioli — and who could forget Balenciaga’s Lay’s potato chip handbags?
At the end of October, Moschino launched a $5,000 celery-shaped clutch, called the Sedano bag, that first appeared on runways earlier this year and goes along with their bread-shaped bags, the Baguette bag and the Rosetta bag.
Nik Bentel, known for his extremely literal $250 pasta box bags, has also created an espresso martini handbag in collaboration with Absolut — and a clutch that resembles a canister of Tums Chewy Bites, for those inclined to overindulge.
Last year, designer Rachel Antonoff’s Pasta Puffer made headlines as the “It” coat of the winter — but Antonoff didn’t limit the print to that season. She boasts an entire “Edibles” collection, complete with Amalfi Pasta Puffer Tote and Filthy Martini Bag.
And this past summer, Kate Spade and Heinz launched a capsule collection celebrating “condiment couture,” featuring totes and purses. Kate Spade fans can additionally bite into an apple-shaped crossbody, choose between two sandwich options, go for a slice of pizza or opt for the whole box like Melissa McCarthy did earlier this summer.
Candy is dandy, too.
Fresh off the heels of their viral Heinz collection, the brand, well-known for its kitschy food-inspired bags, also dropped an M&M’s collection on Nov. 1.
“Kate Spade New York has always been rooted in joy through personal style and self-expression, with products that deliver vibrant pops of color, playful patterns and dimensional textures,” the brand’s Charlotte Warshaw, vice president of Americas Wholesale, Global Licensing & Collaborations, said in a statement.
The M&M’s crossbody bags and coin purses look just like the circular, colorful chocolate snack everyone knows and loves, and there’s also a crossbody that resembles the Peanut M&M’s package. Warshaw called the collab a play to put Gen Z customers “front and center.”
Smaller designers take the cake, too, with Kinza Winza’s bedazzled Cannoli Clutch making its red carpet debut at the 2024 Vanity Fair Oscar Party in the hands of none other than McCarthy.
Last year, Puppets & Puppets’ Chocolate Chip Cookie Bag went viral on TikTok and the brand even made its own series on the platform, “Cookie Takes New York.” The bag’s virality landed it as an accessory to stars like Rosalía, Tove Lo, Doja Cat, Ella Emhoff and Julia Fox.
And while a smattering of food-themed fashion has turned into an entire smorgasbord, Korn says that she’s happy to have even more reason to do what she loves.
Nowadays, everyone is trying to appeal to the “TikTok, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it, low-attention-span generation” and handbags become a large-scale marketing tactic — almost like a “walking billboard,” she explained.
“When you see people walking down the street holding a bag, or your bag is on your chair, it’s just such a powerful marketing moment,” Korn said.
“It takes food and drink outside of a restaurant or outside of the kitchen and into the rest of the world.”
Meanwhile, fresh off the heels of New York Fashion Week, Joe Ando-Hirsh, who garnered a lot of attention after designing Ella Emhoff’s off-the-shoulder dress for the Democratic National Convention, revealed a collaboration with food brand Jimmy Dean, creating a breakfast-inspired tote bag.
For the up-and-coming designer, his collaboration where food meets fashion allows for “some really great visuals and some really great light visuals that were colorful and fun.“
Ando-Hirsh, who graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology in 2020, explained to The Post that part of the inspiration to get into food-inspired fashion was to bring food back into style — literally.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 75% of American high school students say they skip breakfast because they don’t have time, and Ando-Hirsh wanted to help make the most important meal of the day something to be excited about.
He found the collaboration to be a “really fun, uplifting aesthetic” that “just made sense.”
“We both [Jimmy Dean and Ando-Hirsh] are trying to do the same thing, ultimately just kind of create something that’s digestible and is for a wide range of people,” the designer said. “Our audience is everybody … totes are for everyone. They’re so accessible. They’re almost like it’s almost like a brainless product to use.”
Not only are food-inspired bags eye-catching, but they’re also a way to express yourself.
“People are just becoming so open to finding different ways to express their aesthetics,” Ando-Hirsh shared, adding that food is a “fluid and digestible” form of expression — no pun intended.
