Susan Alexandra Shares the Inspiration Behind Her Viral Beverage Bag

Susan Alexandra Shares the Inspiration Behind Her Viral Beverage Bag

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About two years ago, New York-based accessory designer Susan Alexandra began creating the viral beverage bags you see everyone carrying around today. Only, rather than canvas, plastic, or leather, her accessories were constructed using her signature playful beads. Now, she’s reimagining her famous beverage bag for a new holiday collection in partnership with Ketel One Botanical, marking the second collaboration for both brands.

The full line of festive accessories (ranging from $88-$285), also includes handblown glass straws, embroidered napkins, and decorative coasters, all of which could make for great host gifts or dinnerware this season.

While the beverage bag is functional in nature — it’s big enough to fit a bottle of Ketel One — it doesn’t compromise an ounce of style, adding personality to holiday outfits that call for a quirky touch. Each bag features a thoughtful, colorful emblem, like grapefruit, cucumber, peach, and orange, that correlate with Ketel One Botanical varietals available to shop: Grapefruit & Rose, Cucumber & Mint, and Peach & Orange Blossom respectively.

“Everything you put on your table for the holidays should be thoughtful, colorful, and evoke joy — and those are the things that inspire me in everything that I do,” Alexandra, 37, told POPSUGAR of the artful pieces. Even the napkins, she says, feel like “modern heirlooms” from a “different era and time.”

That sense of joy and nostalgia is exactly what draws people to Susan Alexandra’s designs, including celebrity fans like Emma Chamberlain, Gigi Hadid, Emily Ratajkowski, and Pete Davidson. While Alexandra says there’s a long list of famous clients who will be thrilled about the new beverage bag, she’s still excited about one recent style moment in particular. “I loved seeing Post Malone wear our lighter necklace,” she says.

As for her own sense of style, the Columbus, OH, native says “I wear almost entirely vintage. Sourcing special vintage pieces is one of my favorite hobbies and forms of stress relief.” Naturally, she gravitates toward vibrant, whimsical pieces — and that aesthetic inspired a clothing line she recently launched with stylist Doria Santlofer called Rosette. “No surprise here but the pieces are colorful, comfortable, and effortless,” she says, adding that they pair well with her new beverage bags.

To celebrate the debut of Ketel One Botanical x Susan Alexandra, the vodka company is making a $10,000 donation to Ladies Who Launch, an organization that aims to empower women and nonbinary small business owners and entrepreneurs.

Read on to shop the range, which can be purchased online as of Nov. 15.