Obsession: Shoe-Shaped Handbags

You need a shoe purse. Shoe-shaped handbags are on my mind.

I recently ended up with a quite a few new shoe-shaped bags for my collection. Something about a bag shaped like a shoe scratches an itch deep inside my brain in a way so many other novelty bags cannot. These bag seamlessly combine two accessories into one and act as a joyful trompe l’oeil. Case in point: while waiting to purchase those aforementioned recent shoe-shaped bags, multiple people (both employees and bystanders) asked why I only had one shoe and no box! A shoe anywhere in fashion where it’s unexpected is fun. Elsa Schiaparelli’s 1937 shoe hat, made with Dalí, is the ancestor of the entire footwear-as-accessory category.

All kinds of shoe bags exist, but my favorites are the ones that take a little bit of risk while instilling humor and wit. Maison Margiela has been taking its infamous Tabi toe shoe emblem and turning it into bags for years. In fact, they make one of my favorite pieces in my collection: a crossbody Tabi shoe bag. Moschino also made an adorable baby-sized lifelike sneaker handbag under the reign of creative director Jeremy Scott. It was likely a reference to the work of Moschino founder, Franco Moschino, who lived for a surreal moment. Rossella Jardini took over when he passed, and created treasures like the Moschino’s Ballet Shoe Bag from Fall 2001.

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And of course, when creative director Demna was at Balenciaga, he too loved a shoe bag. He took humble black leather stilettos and yellow felted ballerina flats, designed to scale, and made them into realistic clutch bags with chic zippers. Demna also transformed the extremely popular Balenciaga Cagole Boots into a large shoulder bag, complete with two freakishly satisfying boots that can now hold a decent amount of stuff for schlepping.

And, let us never forget the Y2K era’s great and affordable bags shaped like shoes (and bustiers), from now-defunct brands. Here are a few shoe shaped bags to shop now.