Junky Styling

We’ve been stuffing ourselves silly – gorging, even – on the fast food equivalent of fashion for years now to the point where (and I kid you not) in the pouring rain a woman accidentally dropped a bag full of brand new Primark clothes outside the Oxford Street store, but because she was running for the bus, decided to just leave it behind on the sodden pavement. And nobody batted an eyelid. Nor did they bother picking up whatever £2/£5/£10 pieces of clothing were inside to see if they’d be worth wringing out and taking home. They were that disposable. The bin man came and chucked the lot in his wheelie thing. That was about a year ago and I’m still fuming at the thought. I’m taking this opportunity to once again big up Fashion Revolution Day on 24th April – a tweet, a FB update, a cute Insta – anything and everything helps!

The very phrase “fast fashion” however took a different turn of events this season, as high fashion sought to either align or poke fun at fast/junk food treats. I’m talking namely about Jeremy Scott’s debut for Moschino, which I delved deep into for a piece that will be coming out in the forthcoming Style.com magazine so I’m keeping analysis to a minimum here.  Scott is no stranger to feasting in the junk food aisle, what with his pizza dresses and Snicker bar references.  It was a killer Insta-fashion move to marry up the golden arches with Moschino’s heart emblem and then put out an accompanying capsule collection out there on their website and in selected boutiques.  The collection and perhaps this central memorable motif incited extreme love coupled with extreme hate and that’s generally the way the pendulum has swung for Scott’s aesthetic.  That said, there’s no refuting the sheer energy, publicity and indeed, sales that Scott’s debut for Moschino has generated.  The sweater that I’m wearing here (full disclosure: it was a routine editor’s gift from Moschino in Milan judging by how many of these popped up on Instagram) is currently sold out on their site.

What started me on the fast food/fashion trail though was Kit Neale’s Perfectly Fried Chicken sweatshirt, from his Whammy! S/S 14 collection, which was a partial ode to his Peckham residence.  Fried chicken joints – not KFC, but the numerous off-shoots like Dixy, Chicken Cottage etc – are an integral, if slightly insalubrious part of urban high streets in the UK.  See Channel 4’s The Fried Chicken Shop for further proof.  There were a few sniggers as I walked down the street but certainly not out of malice – in Seven Sisters there is a universal appreciation for battered cheapo chicken.  The binge continued elsewhere as a personal childhood food reference popped up when new designer and fellow Hong Kong-er Ryan Lo centred his logo around Pocky packaging.  It says a lot about today’s fashion landscape, that young designers three or four seasons in are already thinking about overt branding and logos but Lo does it with a giant pinch of humour.  And dipped it in strawberry pink icing.  Tasty.

Both Anya Hindmarch and Chanel’s AW 14 supermarket escapades were well documented and made for a field day for trend reporters (oh my god – MORE than three shows that married food with fashion!) and analysts who could read deep into these commentaries on 21st century consumerism.  Hindmarch has long been kitsching it up and whilst we have Daz bags and Kellogg’s Cornflake clutches to look forward to in the coming season, her crisp packet clutch, debuted last season in her Out of This World show, has been making a crunchy metal impact.  Three of the colours are sold out, waiting to be restocked already.  And these aren’t cheapie value packs either.  They’re nearly £1,000 because of their lengthy manufacturing process, well documented on Hindmarch’s site.  Eating real crisps out of it involved lining it just so that the beautiful camel suede wouldn’t be greased up.

In a continued trail of instant recognisable tropes in post-2000 fashion – first the digital prints, then the return of the logo, then the rise of word art and slogans – to couple with the way our lives play out on social media, a marriage with recognisable food brands or items is a logical next step, whether people truly align themselves with the food brands or not.  Food corporation logos have a universal recognisability that goes beyond the double CC’s of Chanel or the Louis Vuitton monogram.  I lost count of the number of people in Marc Jacobs’ Coca-Cola-sanctioned S/S 14 sweatshirt or the Moschino French Fries phone cases dotted all around fashion week this season.  Some people will say they’re cheap ploys or “streetstyle bait” (a term I’m increasingly annoyed by) but what it all is essentially is a bit of fun.  There is no Naomi Klein-esque agenda or even vaguely subversive undertones.  It’s face value, everyman fun.  And by everyman, I mean the joke can be shared with people that are not remotely interested in fashion.  Just as Campbell Souper Dress made its impact on populist culture iconography, so too will these examples of co-branded food/fashion send ups.

P.S. Just so you know that I’m putting money – or in this case, food – where my mouth is, I am actually partial to McDonalds at least once a month (their Filet O’ Fish hits a a sweet sweet gherkin mayo spot – don’t ask me why), and I will leap off a plane in New York and head to a Popeye’s for what really is Perfectly Fried Chicken (sadly our UK counterparts just don’t cut it – unless you go to chi-chi-cool joints like Rita’s in Hackney).  As for Pocky and Walker’s crisps?  Well… need, you ask?  By the by, salt and vinegar IS the only flavour to be chomping on and I far prefer matcha to strawberry Pocky.

Kit Neale Perfectly Fried Chicken sweatshirt worn with Sacai skirt, J Brand jeans and Purified shoes

Moschino Over 20 Billion Served sweater (sold out – for now) worn with Flavia la Rocca striped dungarees

Ryan Lo t-shirt, lace shirt and matching skirt

Anya Hindmarch crisp clutch worn with Tome metallic shirt and Oh My God skirt