By Keira Louise

Fashion and food have never been friends.

From the early years, fashion magazines and shows have been plastered with young, new and skinny models each week. Food was forever demonised.

It's hard to imagine that, now, in a post-pandemic world, it's not that we are what we eat, but instead, we're wearing it.

Although food mixed with fashion is not a groundbreaking new trend, we have already seen Elsa Schiaparelli’s iconic 1937 lobster dress and Chanel’s supermarket runway by Karl Lagerfeld.

But how did brands discover that food and fashion weren't actually abstract design decisions, but instead, a genius market strategy that would relate them to the public?

With the rise of TikTok in recent years and its production of varied trends, the fashion industry has been using it as a tool to speak to its audience by using sensory marketing. Others instead try to make their brand more relatable, and their products appear more accessible.

Food and fashion are both the pillars that represent your societal status and your wealth, and using influencers who are known for their wealth, status and overall lifestyle to promote and market your product is nothing new.

But a designer using an influencer whose audience is mostly average people who use the content as a part of their escapism is interesting.

Influencer and model Nara Smith, known for creating meals from scratch for her young children, putting a Marc Jacobs bag in her oven seems bizarre, but this sends one specific message and subtly tricks potential buyers. Using Smith, whose page is all about organic and unprocessed foods, and asking her to act out making the bag suggests to viewers that “The Tote Bag” is pure and made with care, creating emotion to the product still having familiarity with the content.

Something such as a Marc Jacobs bag would be absolutely unattainable to the average working person but it’s ‘handcrafted’ in a homey kitchen made just for you.

How could you resist?

Using TikTok as a tool for marketing is becoming increasingly popular (NurPhoto)

The death of luxury and the birth of fast fashion happened quickly, with people buying online during the COVID lockdown and never fully going back to in-person purchasing.

Along with the cost-of-living crisis, making affording the daily necessities a struggle for many people, the question, “do I really need that?” came into practice a lot more frequently.

Splurging is no longer an option for the average person.

So, how do you convince people to buy expensive?

Become relatable.

Food is a universal indulgence. As a society, we love trying out restaurants and watching The Food Network late at night. So, when designers are inaccessible the way into our hearts is, of course, food. Everyone knows what basic foods taste like fruit, veg, bread and butter. If we can imagine ourselves eating and smelling the product, we can next imagine ourselves using it, associating the brand with “clean” and healthy.

JACQUEMUS’ summer and autumn campaigns with gigantic cherries rolling out of their store and their croissant earrings with four blocks of butter are unconventional ways of promoting products that are lighthearted and fun, making the audience feel connected with the one shared commonality.

After years of battling with body positivity, the fashion world is now using food to help them start selling. Long gone are the words of Kate Moss and the skinny girl holding her handbag. Instead, they're now lying on top of a chocolate sundae or mixed in with your morning toast.

How the relationship between fashion and food is changing