tuzal's maya

A few months ago, I learned my boyfriend of 11 years is allergic to cherries.

“I told you this,” he insisted. “I’m allergic to cherries—and shrimp.”

As he was saying this, we were sitting across from each other, both wearing tie-dyed sweatshirts. Mine had a shrimp appliqué on it; his, a cherry. Both were mine.

Despite his allergies, he was a fan of cherry prints, a trend that took over fashion—and my closet—in 2018. Designers like Susan Alexandra, Harley Viera Newton, and Mercedes Salazar released cutesy pieces inspired by the stone fruit.

The trend caught on quick. Celebrities like Selena Gomez, Ariel Winter, and Kaia Gerber were photographed wearing cherry prints. During Fashion Week, it wasn’t uncommon to see a model or influencer carrying a cherry bag or sporting a cherry-print something.

Of all the cherry items that made their way into my wardrobe last year, that sweatshirt was my favorite. I bought it from Kozak, a brand in New York that makes limited-edition tie-dyed pieces with fun appliqués. I loved it so much I decided to buy another one—this time with a shrimp on it.

I started wearing my shrimp sweatshirt everywhere. That’s when I started noticing similar crustacean-inspired fashion items popping up on my Instagram. The London-based brand Shrimps featured its namesake prominently in a collaboration with Converse. Susan Alexandra was selling a pair of shrimp studs, a shrimp bracelet, and a shrimp necklace. A new brand actually named Prawn Cocktail started gaining a following among the fashion crowd. I asked myself: Is shrimp the 2019 version of the cherry?

“Shrimp is my favorite food!” Susan Korn, the designer behind Susan Alexandra, tells me. “I absolutely sense a trend brewing, especially at a time when we look to fashion as a distraction from the weight of the outside world. Shrimps represent parties and decadence and summer evenings on Italian coasts.”

With just over 6,000 followers, Prawn Cocktail is slowly emerging as one of the fashion crowd’s favorite purveyors of unique, shrimp-inspired pieces. Melbourne-based designer Beatrix Rowe sells hand-painted vintage bags with prawns on them, and says the account has “slowly gained a small but incredibly dedicated following.”

“People seem pleasantly surprised at the niche of Prawn handbags,” Roxe says. Almost all of the bags currently listed on its website have sold out after being photographed during the most recent Fashion Week.

It’s not just accessories getting the shrimp treatment: Rachel Antonoff‘s spring 2019 collection was inspired by “the idea of a beachy print that your dad might buy as a big Hawaiian shirt on a family vacation,” she says. Front and center? A prawn-print skirt and bra top, meant to be worn as a set.

The brand Shrimps might be the originator of this trend—not only because of its name but because of its logo, featuring two little pink shrimp facing each other, in the shape of a heart. Designer Hannah Weiland says the name originally came from her childhood nickname, but she loves incorporating shrimp into her collections when she can.

“There’s something really sweet and fun about them that just works,” she explains.

“I see a bright future for the shrimp,” Paige Kozak, the designer of my shrimp sweatshirt, tells me. “This might just be me. But shrimp feels like a hybrid of the conch shell and cherry crazes. Shrimp are fun, irreverent—something familiar but fresh in their application to fashion. Perfect for summer. Viva la shrimp!”

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton