Get some purse...pective

You thought the Is It Cake trend was mad? Luxury bags now come shaped like paint cans, pies, popcorn buckets and pigeons. We're here for the crazy!

- Taranna Khetpal

A pigeon, a popcorn bucket, and a camera walk into a party. No joke. It's just another day for fashion's growing obsession with bags that don't look like bags. Chic hands everywhere are clutching purses that cosplay as concertinas, baguettes, glittering roses and paint cans, martinis and more.

Watched Fabulous Lives vs Bollywood Wives or Dubai Bling? The bags almost steal the show in some scenes. Following Shalini Passi's style? See how often she accessorises with crystal-studded novelty purses and pop-art-inspired clutches. Caught all the Reels from Fashion Week? Even minor influencers were toting some kind of oddly shaped bag to fit in.

Statement accessories have been showing up for as long as glossy magazines have been using the term “statement accessories”. In 1967, Judith Leiber released a metal clutch shaped like a chatelaine (the OG purse for Victorian women to carry keys, scissors and secrets), covering tarnished bits with rhinestones. It got fashion to realise that bags can be a little whimsical. But it's only in this century that they went deliberately crazy.

Moschino put out a McDonald's-inspired Happy Meal bag in 2014. Thom Browne turned heads with his dachshund-shaped Hector bag in 2016. Coperni's glass-blown Swipe bag went viral in 2022. What statement are they all making now? That craftsmanship, creativity and absurdity still matter in a world where fashion has been playing it safe and dull.

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