Last spring, the American designer Rachel Antonoff presented a parka with pasta motifs, specifically gibberish on a black background. The garment caused such a furor that The New York Times declared that designs based on food had become “the new florals”, the most used print for centuries.
The New York newspaper is right, because since the middle of the last century the design of textiles and accessories has expanded to spaghetti, pipe rigate or macaroni (Dolce
The relationship between food and clothing goes beyond the fact that they are part of the basic needs of human beings: the choice of flowers and fruits as prints for women's dresses for hundreds of years has had a symbolic intention related to concepts such as fertility. , beauty and youth. It is enough to take a walk through a clothing museum to see the numerous dresses with prints of pomegranates or ears of wheat and hats decorated with all kinds of fruits, starting with the classic cherries, whose popularity remains: dresses with cherry prints, earrings shaped like cherries, bags with cherry appliqués...
The intersection between food and clothing has been accentuated since the middle of the last century, when both gastronomy and fashion, which constitute the sublimation of both basic needs, became more and more daring: new combinations and flavors, new pieces. It was inevitable that sooner or later designers would turn to an activity, eating, in which luxury has also turned, to the point that the large conglomerates in the sector have opened restaurants (not for all budgets, it must be said) .
Louis XIV already saw it coming, responsible for turning haute cuisine and the fashion industry into two twin forms of French soft power. At the end of the 19th century, the aristocracy and the big bourgeoisie had already adopted the custom of dressing in haute couture to dine in the most select restaurants. Now luxury industry groups also own hotels and restaurants: the Cheval Blanc, owned by the LVMH conglomerate, is one of the centers that sets the pace for the most fashionable Paris.
In the fifties of the last century, creators such as Balenciaga or Benjamin B. Green-Field opted for revolutionary hats that paid homage to a cake, in the case of the Spaniard, or included small ears of corn, as the North American designed for his Bes Bes brand. . The inspiration did not fall on deaf ears and one of the eccentricities present in the New York exhibition is a sandwich-shaped hat.
And bread, inseparable from the human being, has also been a recurring source of inspiration: the baguette bag, created by Silvia Venturini for Fendi in 1997, has become an icon of which the Italian brand has made no less than 700 different versions. In fact, for insiders it is the first it bag. Later, in the eighties, also in Italy, a bag was invented that was shaped like sliced bread and which has also become an object of vintage desire.
The arrival of pop-art, with its predilection for mass consumption and advertising, had a great influence on fashion also in its edible version, as shown by the designs that play with the logo of a Moschino brand of hamburgers. , which also launched a dress inspired by the Coca-Cola bottle and also a chocolate bar. The Cambell soup brand itself took advantage of the image of Andy Warhol's famous painting to make a paper promotional dress that could be obtained with a few soup coupons and a dollar. They were different times.
The relationship between food and fashion also has a drift of national reaffirmation. In the spring of 1998, the Han Feng brand launched a silk set with teapot prints: tea and silk, two of the essential members of Chinese society. And if we talk about Japan and gastronomy, one of the first images that will come to mind is sushi: the designer Issey Miyake created in 2018, to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the opening of his store in Soho, New York, a box of wood with accessories rolled up as if it were that, sushi rolls. The box itself is a recreation of the bento, the containers with small compartments with different types of preparations that millions of Japanese buy at mealtime.
But without a doubt those who have opted the most to sweep home when inspired by food have been the Italian creators. Moschino designed a line of clothing whose prints included pizzas, bottles of Chianti, and forks with their spaghetti dangling. Dolce is not far behind
The influence of food on fashion goes further and takes on an ethical character when talking about, for example, Stella McCartney, not the only one, but the best known of the designers who have opted for veganism and sustainability for their designs. productions, and they are not mere postures. The British company investigates the recycling of food waste to create new textile materials, or the production of leather substitutes using mushrooms or apple peel.
It is the currency of our time: while some brands launch collection after collection, with the consequent accumulation of waste in manufacturing and subsequent disposal by the public when it has already been used, other brands are committed to making less and with better materials. Yes, it is more expensive in many cases, but it will last much longer.
And if you want to know what shape the most trendy dresses or bags will have, look at your table, you might find inspiration there. By the way, an excellent vintage to give as a gift is Judith Leiber's 1994 clutch: a sparkling sequined tomato. Or the bags from the Belgian brand Delvaux, one shaped like a ticket of French fries, des frites, the country's national dish by the way, another with a hamburger and another from Frankfurt with its mustard and everything. They are there to eat.
