Chez Mine

I really missed a trick when I started Style Bubble.  Food and Fashion!  DOH!  Why DIDN'T I combine two of my favourite things into one arena.  Luxirare proves that there is indeed a common ground to be found by appreciating the two things.  I love the feel of cashmere against my skin ergo I love stuffing my face with foie gras.  Makes complete sense!  Seriously though, he number of conversations started at a fashion show, usually complaining about how hungry we are, which then leads on to drooling over one dish or another is actually countless.  I've yet to find a clever way of linking in lamb meatballs at Spuntino's or a bowl of udon at Koya with fashion but when I do, you'll be the first to know and then you'll either be horrified or impressed with how many awesome calories I huff in a day (it's well over 3,000 by the way… with 2,000 of that concentrated mostly in pork fat and chicken skin). 

Swedish fave Carin Wester gave me my first opportunity to talk food with a designer.  She looked to the fast-diminishing oldie woldie brasseries and bistros of Paris and their cosy interiors as a starting point for her A/W 11-12 collection.  There is a danger of course that with such a familiar theme, you could have had models coming out with a grin on their face, a neck bib that said "Bon Appetit!" and wearing a bearnaise-splattered top.  That is about as far and away from Wester as you can get.  With a few pieces in my own wardrobe, I can testify that Wester's clothes have a wit about them that don't need spoonfed sign posting.  It's the lived-in quality and the familiarity of a local Parisian brasserie or bistro that Wester is inspired by as well as the interiors.  Even then, the carpet print and white fringing poking out of gladiator skirts are the only blatant homey resto references and actually for me, the print was a real highlight, working well in both men and womenswear. 

On the press release, Wester made reference to Moule, Poisson and Homard with a pinch of salt and pepper as ingredients and as tasty as that sounds, they all actually hardly made a literal appearance in the collection.  Instead, Wester's girl/woman grew up a bit, and now wears low double breasted jackets, slick bombers and mannish trousers paired with oversized clutches.  The menswear is slightly more playful and relies on the strength of knits as well as the use of the carpet print to form this boyish counterpart to the womenswear. 

All I can think of in this minus seven cold is the appeal of one of Carin Wester's jacket with the collars folded in, covering the neck area entirely as well as the relaxed fit of the collection that makes everything look like you could slip into it with complete ease.  Along with a bowl of bouillabaise or the like.  Maybe moules and frites.  Or a really good terrine.  See, I've just had dinner and I'm already drooling about yet more butchered meat.  Perhaps my body isn't ready for a fashion/food investigative fusion on the blog.   

Can't complain about a sweater that makes a guy give the double thumbs up, as captured by Sonny Vandevelde….