It\u2019s pouring on the Upper East Side, but even though she\u2019s lugging summer\u2019s hottest \u201cIt\u201d bag, Natalie Mileo is fine with getting drenched. <\/p>\n
The Queens resident \u201cused to freak out\u201d if her pricey Chanel and Fendi handbags got a drop of rain or a speck of dirt on them. But Mileo\u2019s new must-have isn\u2019t a \u201cquiet luxury\u201d staple with gold-plated logos and delicate Italian suede.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s slime green and plastic.<\/p>\n
Say bonjour to the Jelly Firkin, a handbag shaped like the Herm\u00e8s Birkin bag<\/a> \u2014 a giant leather tote named for willowy \u201960s singer Jane Birkin and long considered the ultimate status bag among fashion\u2019s elite \u2014 but made from the fun, gummy material also used to make gym class kickballs.\u00a0<\/p>\n Natalie Mileo at the Hermes Madison Avenue boutique with her Jelly Firkin. Emmy Park for NY Post<\/p>\n An evil twin to the famous French status bag, the Jelly Firkin has a devoted fan base that includes K-pop stars, aloof Hollywood auteurs, and even real Herm\u00e8s collectors like Mileo. <\/p>\n But while an actual Birkin costs as much as $100,000, the jelly version is just $35.<\/p>\n The $35 Jelly Firkin. Emmy Park for NY Post<\/p>\n \u201cMy friends won\u2019t touch anything that isn\u2019t designer, but I think it\u2019s great,\u201d Mileo, 40, who goes by the moniker \u201cBratty Natty\u201d on social media thanks to her luxury shopping binges, told The Post. \u201cIt reminds you not to take fashion so seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n Mileo said she gets \u201ca lot of questions\u201d when carrying her plastic lookalike around Manhattan. <\/p>\n \u201cSome people might be mad because they paid so much for a Birkin, and now there are these cute knockoffs,\u201d she sighed. \u201cBut I\u2019m like, \u2018Relax. It\u2019s a joke\u2026 I have 10 real Herm\u00e8s bags. This one, I can actually take to the pool.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Way back in the early 2000s, the Jelly Firkin had a cousin \u2014 the Jelly Kelly \u2014 built to look like an Herm\u00e8s Kelly bag. It was carried by A-listers like Reese Witherspoon and sold at the legendary NYC department store Henri Bendel.\u00a0<\/p>\n Mileo posing with her inexpensive Jelly Firkin. Emmy Park for NY Post<\/p>\n But cease and desist letters from the Herm\u00e8s legal team soon swarmed the shops. By 2003, the bags were \u2014 in the words of Jelly Kelly owner and former reality star, Kristen Cavallari \u2014 \u201cdunzo.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The resurrection came thanks to K-pop star Kya, who toted a lime green Jelly Firkin in May. Teens in Asia pounced on the trend, and by June, Google was recording a 5000% spike in searches for the category.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI first saw them online in April,\u201d said Madison Hopkins, 26, a Bushwick resident who does the marketing for a Brooklyn coffee company. \u201cBut they seemed to only be available in Asia. I couldn\u2019t figure out how to get one here.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Last month, the bags finally made their way to the U.S. on TikTok Shop and Hopkins jumped on it. She paid $30 for her Jelly Firkin, which she said is \u201chonestly better\u201d than its Herm\u00e8s inspiration. \u201cIt\u2019s more whimsical. It\u2019s not snobby, which makes it cooler.\u201d<\/p>\n Even her non-fashion-obsessed co-workers love it. \u201cThey don\u2019t know anything about fashion, but they\u2019re like, \u2018Why is your bag bouncing?\u2019 They think it\u2019s amazing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The Jelly Firkin craze comes as real Birkins are starting to lose their lustre. <\/p>\n A few years ago, some women would buy the hallowed purses in lieu of stocks and bonds, counting on their $20,000 hunk of leather to outpace inflation.\u00a0<\/p>\n Remy Solomon says carrying a real Birkin would be \u201ca humiliation ritual.\u201d Photo Copyright John Chapple \/ instagram: @JohnChapple<\/p>\n