Tupperware Hits New York’s Fashion Week

CHERYL LU-LIEN TAN:

The food-storage company locks in an edgier image with celeb parties, cool gadgets and a catwalk debut at New York’s Fashion Week.

At the Cynthia Rowley fashion show of spring clothes in New York recently, the accessories were attention-grabbing: fat orange-plastic hairbands and futuristic leather ballerina shoes with 2.5-inch plastic heels.

What really stood out, though, was the label: Tupperware.

Tupperware Corp., known through the generations for selling plastic food-storage containers through staid living-room “parties,” is trying to become cool. In an effort to generate buzz, the 59-year-old company is throwing high-profile Tupperware parties with stars like Naomi Watts and actor-rapper Ice-T on the guest lists. At this season’s Fashion Week, the company managed to get its wares in a gift bag for celebrities, along with such coveted items as a $600 faux crocodile Dooney & Bourke purse.