Prior to the success (or rather, widespread ridicule) of Balenciaga’s posh designer bag that looked just like a Thai plastic bag, the world of high fashion was inspired by another aspect of daily Southeast Asian life.
Behold: Hermes’ banana leaf handbag — a highlight of its 2010 Spring Collection by celebrated French haute couture designer Jean-Paul Gaultier.
Hermes new handbag = nasi lemak daun pisang pic.twitter.com/OI0iHLJa5q
— Abd Hakeem Abd Hadi (@hkmhdi) November 30, 2016
The leafy clutch may have been launched in 2010, but it resurfaced recently on Twitter, where netizens poked fun at how it looks like it might actually just be a really big packet of nasi lemak. Or alternatively, a parcel of Lembas bread prepared by the Elves of Middle Earth.
That time bag makcik kropok became a fashion designer thingy. Now nasi lemak bungkus handbag? Hermes somemore. Haha! pic.twitter.com/eiLyVJaPxv
— ☠ (@ehkayeyeare) November 30, 2016
Though the classic breakfast entreé popular in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia may be typically served in standard white styrofoam boxes now (may we recommend Ananas café?), it used to be commonly packed as a take-away wrapped with banana leaves. In fact, they still are in many parts of Malaysia, where folks just purchase nasi lemak bungkus off street hawkers and food stalls.
We don’t know about the models walking down the runway with Gaultier’s tropic-inspired handbags, but they’re missing out if they’re not storing fragrant coconut rice, spicy sambal, anchovies, fried egg, crispy fried fish/chicken and slices of cucumber in those clutches.
