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I wore Candy Crush dress on NYC subway floor: 'What's she doing?'

Jun 25, 2023

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No seat? No sweat.

Fashion designer Christian Cowan — famed for larger-than-life looks worn by celebs like pop icon Kylie Minogue, rapper Ice Spice and rumored beau Sam Smith — has launched a collab with the ubiquitous mobile game Candy Crush Saga.

Allow The Post to introduce you to “The Sweet Seat” — a beanbag-like dress inspired by the dreaded task of claiming a seat on public transportation during rush hour.

“It’s this idea that you’re going on your commute and you can’t find your seat — and luckily your outfit doubles up as that,” Cowan, 28, told The Post.

After years of chaotic commuting, he knew it was time to eliminate the most challenging part of the journey: “As a student, I’d always be on the tube in London and there would never be seats. And I would just sit down on the floor in the middle.”

So, this reporter decided to spend a day strutting her stuff in the Sweet Seat on the streets of NYC. Needless to say, the public reactions to the look were as colorful as the commuter game that inspired it.

I slithered into the surprisingly lightweight dress and zipped it up, adding a few accessories — white thigh-high boots, white sunglasses and a pink purse — to make the look my own.

The rainbow color concoction — which sells for $1,000 — did not go unnoticed in Midtown.

“Whoa, it’s a beanbag,” one sharp-eyed bystander realized. “That’s f – – king huge.”

Others, however, were outright fans of the look: “I love the fabric. Can we touch it?” gushed one fashion fan, who was amazed at how soft the garment felt.

Another declared, “You look beautiful, whatever that is, it’s awesome,” before asking, “Who is the designer?”

“Can we get a photo with you?” more than one wide-eyed New Yorker asked.

“It’s very Candy Crush. It’s just whimsical, fun, over-the-top and unserious in all the best of ways,” Cowan told The Post, adding that working with the candy game series was “like the dream project because I like to have fun with fashion.”

New Yorkers instantly recognized the 2012 game application, blurting out, “OMG, it looks like a life-size Candy Crush,” or “I used to play that game all the time.”

Meanwhile, others fixated on the shape of the dress, observing, “It definitely looks like a Hershey kiss. You just need the silver wrapping,” or asking, “Is that a Hershey kiss?”

Cowan wanted the dress’s shape and look to incorporate all of his “favorite candies,” especially striped ones. The UK designer also used the late avant-garde trendsetter Leigh Bowery, “an iconic kind of queer club kid,” as inspiration for the dress.

“Something that’s been so key to my brand has been these cool collaborations that look into different areas of pop culture that you would expect us to step into,” the designer said.

The Sweet Seat had some people watchers wanting to indulge in their sweet tooth, as one bystander indicated: “You make me want to eat some candy in that dress?”

However, shaded the statement dress: “It’s cute. I wouldn’t wear it. It looks better on you,” admitted a Bryant Park security guard.

An Italian tourist added, “The dress looks good on you — but we can’t wear that in my country.”

The “Sweet Seat,” which is a limited edition, is one-size-fits-all, made out of Lycra and “stuffed with a material that actually dissolves when using a vinegar and water mixture — making it sustainable.”

Cowan told The Post his Candy Crush is a pop culture moment, especially when commuting on public transportation. He also revealed it’s the only game on his phone.

I took the beanbag dress underground to experience Candy Crush commuting myself, which came with plenty of glaring eyes and queries like, “Where is this woman going to sit?” and “What is she doing?”

Luckily enough for other passengers, I didn’t need an actual subway seat. Instead, I got comfortable on the floor and played Candy Crush until I got off the downtown M train.

My biggest obstacle was getting through the subway turnstiles, which I got stuck in at one point. A friendly commuter had to help push me through.

Cowan admits the outfit is “really just like unashamedly fun and humorous.”

“We should always dress to have fun. We should always dress to enlighten our day, make us feel happier,” he told The Post.

“So I just hope people take that away in their personal style and just have more fun with things. Don’t worry so much.”

Get seats. Earn rewards. Experience it live.