Hungry for attention, luxury fashion brands are collaborating with chefs. Kitty Coles digs in…
When I first started in the food business, chefs wore their hair tied back, comfy shoes, big T-shirts and baggy trousers (or chef whites, of course). I didn’t get into food to be in front of the camera, and while I’m confident in my food and interior style, I’ve always felt a little lost in fashion. I dress for myself, and sometimes other women, but never for the camera. Now that I share things on Instagram, I wonder if I am expected to be dressed head to toe in the newest, most fashionable items while I cook?
“My ultimate trompe l’oeil to date” – Laila Gohar, wearing Hermès, working on the largest cake she has ever created at the Prince de Galles Hotel in Paris, as part of her ongoing collaboration with The Luxury Collection. Photograph: @piariverola, @lailacooks.
It seems that food is the new fashion accessory on social media. A crisp baguette peeking out of a straw basket bag is the perfect addition to a casual weekend T-shirt and jeans. My bike basket is always filled with ingredients for shoots and testing – most commonly herbs, leafy lemons and a baguette – and I do think I look quite cute even if my outfits need work. (If you’re after a food prop without a sell-by date, head to Anya Hindmarch’s “Anya Mart” on Pont Street in London, where the fashion-food crossover is immediately evident – you can pick up a Kikkoman Soy Sauce raffia tote, a Heinz baked beans wallet or a Coco Pops sequined mini bag.)
At Café Cecilia in London’s Hackney, which is owned by Irish chef Max Rocha, son of fashion designer John and brother of Simone, food and fashion come naturally together. It’s first and foremost a great restaurant, with simple, delicious food, but it also feels effortlessly stylish, down to the uniforms designed by Simone. Max’s fashion family’s influence is apparent and Café Cecilia has become not only the place to spot London’s most fashionable, but a go-to venue for fashion brands including Rouje, Filippa K and ASOS to host private events.
Imogen Kwok prepares floral yuzu cakes for a Loewe store opening at Bergdorfs, New York; @imogenkwok.
Why are fashion and food (not the most likely of bedfellows) now so lovingly intertwined? There are two reasons: firstly, social media has made it easier than ever to see into people’s lives, kitchens and wardrobes, and food and fashion brands are mining this rich lifestyle seam. Our Instagram feeds serve us up a stream of content at the axis of food and fashion. I click on a reel of a woman in a pretty flowy dress (elegantly) slurping on a plate of silky spaghetti. I immediately want to know the recipe for the pasta dish, where her dress is from, and possibly the paint colour in the background too. You and I may not be clear about what is being promoted, but right now it seems it pays fashion brands to find the sweet spot where fashion and food collide.
Ella Flalo plates up for a Chanel dinner at the Palais du Pharo in Marseille; @ellaflalo.
Secondly, chefs, cooks, and creative influencers are now working with big luxury brands and well-known designers to create one-of-a-kind events or collaborations, with incredible impact. Take Laila Gohar (@lailacooks), an artist who has taken her love for food to some of the biggest fashion brands in the world, including Gucci, Versace and Prada. She recently created the longest-ever Sicilian cassata cake for an event (5.5 metres), which I’d love to know if anyone actually ate. It’s hard to comprehend how she manages to make two-metres-high, elaborately decorated cakes, chairs made out of brioche bread, endless braids of mozzarella snaking down tables, or a strawberry tart the size of a tractor wheel.
Loewe’s AW24 hand-beaded asparagus bag.
Kirthanaa Naidu (@kirthanaa) recently worked with sportswear brand ON, creating an event on a tennis court where one table shaped like an O and another like an N were dressed with kimchi and cheddar scones, lime leaf focaccia, and pandan panacottas. I spoke to Naidu, as I was intrigued to know whether people actually ate this delicious food at these events, and asked her if it was all just for show. “When I cook for events like this, it’s important to me that the food is still homely,” she said, “because I want people to eat everything. It’s important food is delicious, rather than just looking good.” Imogen Kwok (@imogenkwok), a London-based chef who has collaborated with brands like Loewe and Miu Miu to create what I can only describe as food art, agrees. “My food is always edible,” she explains. “People are sometimes confused because they think the food is a sculpture or inedible artwork, which I find amusing. Taste is just as important as the presentation – I love how everything looks pristine before people arrive but the true joy of cooking is having everyone enjoy what you’ve made.”
Imogen Kwok’s custom Miu Miu chocolate bars for a culinary installation during London Fashion Week.
Then there’s model Nara Smith (@naraaziza) who’s got everyone talking about her cooking videos – she dresses in incredible fashion to make kimchi, or to make her husband Coca Cola from scratch, or breakfast cereal for her three children. In a tongue-in-cheek collaboration with Marc Jacobs, she even “baked” a Marc Jacobs tote bag. Nara, Kirthanaa, Imogen and Laila are the image of perfection on Instagram, exquisitely dressed in expensive clothes, and also incredible cooks.
Laila Gohar’s semifreddo for an Hermès event at Salone del Mobile in Milan.
It’s not just women who are feeding this new trend – plenty of male chefs have given up the day job to become influencers instead, and why wouldn’t they? Being paid to wear the newest Palace sweater instead of chef whites seems easier than pulling a 17-hour shift in a hot restaurant kitchen. Former chef Flynn McGarry (@diningwithflynn) has even collaborated with Chanel to promote its fine jewellery! This type of social media chef is selling you the jacket, or the jewellery, but also teaching you how to make ravioli from scratch. Appealing to both men, women, and to brands across the fashion and food worlds, some are becoming wildly popular, with thousands of followers. See chef and restaurateur Thomas Straker (@thomasstraker), who recently created a limited edition collection of outdoor garments for chefs – designed for cooking in the wild – with fashion brand Fera. The collection was revealed on Instagram, complete with a video of Straker wading into a river to go wild fishing, chopping wood to light a fire, and chargrilling his catch of the day. Straker has also teamed up with brands like Oliver Spencer and Palace, solidifying this crossover between the worlds of fashion and food.
Khouloude Ben Thayer’s “molecular” dinner for Nike Air; @cheffe.khouloude.
This trend may have been triggered by the popularity of TV show The Bear. Designer Thom Browne created the chef jackets for the show, complete with his signature stripes on the arms. Jeremy Allen White, the actor who plays main character Carmy, recently stripped down to his underpants for a Calvin Klein ad, plastered onto billboards in New York. The Bear has become the TV show for both fashion and food lovers – Sex and the City in a kitchen!
Gohar World accessories include baguette bags and crudité belts; @gohar.world.
I love to cook and care deeply about food. I enjoy taking photos of food, but I’m never going to cook or go out to eat purely to create content. I love that the fashion world is embracing spectacular feasts, but I hope guests at these events are enjoying it all, appreciating every little detail, every last morsel, and not just taking photos. My fashion accessories will always be a little tomato sauce on my cuff, a sprig of parsley in my hair, and a bag full of food. I’m not sure I have what it takes for the intensity of the fashion world. But look, if Chanel wants to get in touch, they know where to find me. @kittycoles
Thomas Straker wears an Oliver Spencer suit in his Notting Hill restaurant, Straker’s.