Puppets and Puppets

The Cookie bag is bought as a conversation piece, not a workhorse: a simple leather bag with a hyperrealistic chocolate chip cookie fixed to its center. Its value lies in the wit and the way it turns heads, so it suits someone who wants a playful, artful statement rather than maximum practicality. If you love a fashion object with a sense of humour, it earns its keep; if you want a quiet everyday carry, it is not that.

The signature piece is the Cookie Leather Top Handle Bag, a leather handbag with a trompe l'oeil chocolate chip cookie adorned on its front. It first appeared as part of the brand's fall 2020 Moebius collection and, while the runway looks were not put into production, the cookie handbag became a genuine commercial success. New colorways and limited-edition variations are released regularly.

Puppets and Puppets is a New York fashion label founded in 2018 by Carly Mark and Ayla Argentina, though it is now run solely by Mark. In the early years Argentina did much of the sewing while Mark served as creative director and publicist, a roughly 50/50 creative partnership. By 2023 it was reported that Argentina had left the label.

The name derives from Carly Mark's dog, a chihuahua mix named "Puppet." It is both humorous and pointed: Mark uses it to ironize the loaded meaning of "puppet" in fashion, nodding to how models are treated and how trend-followers behave. That mix of play and critique runs throughout the brand.

The label fluctuates between streetwear and "theatrical and humorous creations," known for dramatic silhouettes, a grunge sensibility, food-themed details, and absurdist one-of-a-kind pieces. Critic Rachel Tashjian described its wearer as the chic, sophisticated New York woman who dresses in a pulled-together yet offbeat, slightly boyish way. It is fashion with a wink, balancing wearability and spectacle.

The debut was Harlequin, an anti-fast-fashion show of wearable art pieces that mixed a '90s DIY aesthetic with over-the-top harlequinesque costume. Roughly 35% of the collection used salvaged materials, sourced from eBay, the Salvation Army, or Mark's own earlier sculpture and video work. That reuse ethos set the tone for the label's craft.

Those came from the American Psycho Meets the Romanoffs collection, presented at the Prince George Ballroom and inspired by Fabergé eggs, the Romanovs, and American Psycho. Vogue likened it to stepping into a Salvador Dalí painting, with shoes fashioned from egg cartons and bralette coverings made to look like sunny-side-up yolks. The egg-crate shoes literally evoked the phrase "walking on eggshells."

Mark's focus has narrowed. In 2024 she announced plans to relocate to London, downsize her team, and exit ready-to-wear to concentrate solely on accessories. That shift puts the spotlight squarely on pieces like the Cookie bag rather than full runway collections going forward. The brand's avant-garde spirit, though, carries into the accessories.

Yes. In 2023, Carly Mark was nominated for the Fashion Trust US St. John Knits award for ready-to-wear. That recognition came as the brand was building on the breakout success of the Cookie bag. It marked a moment of mainstream industry attention for a label that started as an anti-fast-fashion art project.

Many of them are, by design. The label is built on absurdist one-of-a-kind pieces, and even its signature Cookie bag is released in new colorways and limited-edition variations rather than as an endless staple. Several early runway looks, from the Harlequin debut through Moebius, were never put into production at all. That scarcity gives the brand's output a genuine collector's appeal.