Fashion & Food

With interest in food and diet at an all-time high, fashion brands are using food to reinforce a broader lifestyle message.

Food and drink collaborations enable fashion labels to distill the essence of their brand into a more accessible and widely available product, while cafe and restaurant concepts strengthen and deepen customer relationships.

Collaborations allow gourmet-food and luxury-fashion labels to share and build upon integral brand messages of history, craft and exclusivity. Limited-edition food and drink collaborations are also being used as a marketing tool for core seasonal collections.

Reinforcing shared brand messages of luxury and exclusivity, a limited-edition bottle of alcohol allows fashion labels to reach a wider audience. As part of its Power of Creation series, champagne brand Dom Pérignon commissioned Dutch designer Iris van Herpen to create a box, label and made-to-order art piece for the new vintage. During Milan Design Week this year, Wallpaper magazine unveiled its sixth Handmade Collection. Based around the theme of food, drinks and entertaining, new products include the Chef’s Bag – a collaboration between chef Davide Oldani and Italian leather goods label Tod’s – and the Forager's Gilet, designed by British brand Hunter alongside foraging expert Thom Hunt.

Demonstrating the symmetry between fashion and food, catwalk shows have begun to incorporate food into the performance: Prada served up its own popsicles as canapés for its S/S 16 menswear show, while Chanel famously created a supermarket full of branded groceries for its A/W 14/15 collection. Bertie de Rougemont, a caterer specialising in fashion events, says the big brands "will almost always want menus that reflect their history and heritage. Fendi, for example, would never serve a shepherd’s pie. Hackett is much more about seasonal, locally sourced British ingredients – it would never, ever serve risotto. All of Stella McCartney’s food is vegetarian and 100% natural and always has been. Prada is about simplicity, elegance and an absolute lack of pretentiousness."

Elevating the trend to art status, Swedish photographer Linus Morales creates luxury logos on fast food for his pop art-inspired Fab Food series. Graphic designers Amy Moss and Peddy Mergui have both dreamt up packaging for imagined luxury fast foods, such as Paul Smith ice cream and Tiffany & Co yoghurt – packaged in formats that range from suitably on-brand to defiantly not so.

All info from WGSN