GOOD TO EAT

Dinner with a side of style

The places you dine in say as much about you as the clothes you wear – so much so that eating has become a pastime and fashion statement in itself, finds Lucy Slight.

What does your menu say about you? In today’s content-conscious world, the food you eat and the cocktails you sip reveal as much about your personal style as the clothes you wear while you’re doing it. And as the New Zealand restaurant industry continues to boom (buzz about a new opening every week, two-hour waiting times at the hottest spots), food has practically become more fashionable than fashion itself. Whether you’re taking a bird’s-eye shot of your Two Grey acai bowl on a Saturday morning in Wellington; packing your Instagram story with snaps of your girls’ lunch at Craggy Range in Hawke’s Bay; snapping a cake from fashion’s favourite baker, The Caker; or sipping prosecco on the sidewalk outside Auckland’s Coco’s Cantina on a Friday night, it’s all about the vibe. And just like posting a photo of a new outfit on Instagram, by tagging a restaurant or sharing a snap of your meal, you’re sharing an insight into your personal brand and the values you represent.

Think of it as the modern equivalent to ‘ladies who lunch’ (“Women with both the means and free time to meet socially for lunch in expensive restaurants”) – a see-and-beseen kind of scene. However, in 2019, it’s not about how much you’re spending on dinner, whether you’re wearing a string of pearls or a shell necklace. It’s your choice of restaurant, café or bar that tells a story about you and your crew, whether it’s conscious or not. It’s also reflective of the younger generation’s focus on spending their cash on moments, rather than objects.

“I have a similar approach to food as I do to fashion,” says Beck Wadworth (pictured top right), founder of stationery brand An Organised Life. Beck regularly collaborates with fashion, beauty and interiors brands and has a strong sense of her own aesthetic, carefully choosing who she partners with to ensure the right alignment.

“Now that I’m a wee bit older, I’m more about quality and I invest in things that I want to have around for a long time,” she says. “I’m all about the story of the brand – and

I’m the same with food. If

I’m going to spend money

I’ve worked hard for on food, I want to know what I’m getting. I always research somewhere before I go, quite often on social media. I only want to spend my money on places that I think have a good story and good food.”

When it comes to good food, you can’t beat a La Peche pop-up, if the kudos on Instagram is anything to go by. The duo behind the Auckland event du jour, Emma Ogilvie and Nick Landsman, deliver a new-school French vibe to random locations, collaborating with restaurants, sommeliers and chefs to create ’gram-worthy street-food-style experiences for a limited time only. If you’re in the know, you know, so just so you know, the next pop-up is a collaboration with hotspot wine bar Annabel’s in Ponsonby and launches on March 23. Surrounded by vintage fashion, records, plants and objects d’art, modern French fare can be washed down with cocktails, craft beer and natural wine. Put it in your diary immediately.

You can’t talk about the local food scene these days without mentioning @eatlitfood, the cult Instagram account created by Albert Cho. After seeing too many pictures of people at restaurants and not enough critique about whether the food was actually any good, he launched the most searingly honest, and humorous, account in the game. He unashamedly calls out (and tags in) eateries that don’t live up to his high standards, while raving about his epic dining experiences – from new openings to the best under-the-radar restaurants you’ve never heard of.

“I didn’t start Eat Lit Food with a plan or agenda,” says Albert. “I’ve always liked dining out and just thought I’d put my camera roll clogged with food photos to use. I started by simply posting them with the name of the dish as the caption, then started writing one or two lines of my honest opinion about each dish, which my friends found hilarious. One thing led to another, the captions got longer and the number of followers kept growing.”

He describes New Zealand’s dining scene right now as underrated. “My friends always say that there’s nothing to eat, and that’s what happens when you only eat white-people food. Café culture is strong, the quality of New Zealand meat and seafood is out the gate and Asian cuisine – especially in Auckland, like Bunga Raya and Kingston Noodles – is no joke.”

Put simply, Albert is passionate about food – and so is his following, who enthusiastically tag their friends to suggest visiting the eateries he reviews. You’ll find many local fashion designers and industry insiders among his readership too.

During last year’s New Zealand Fashion Week, a number of local brands – including Salasai, Georgia Alice, Harris

“NOW THAT I’M A WEE BIT OLDER, I’M MORE ABOUT QUALITY. I’M ALL ABOUT THE STORY OF THE BRAND – AND I’M THE SAME WITH FOOD.”

Tapper and Meadowlark – chose to eschew the traditional fashion shows for intimate dining experiences. Likewise, Karen Walker, who publicly declared that her runway show at New York Fashion Week in 2016 would be her last, held a lunch at Sydney’s hottest new restaurant Chin Chin in Surry Hills during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia to showcase her new collection of sunglasses.

Back in 2016, the designer told The Business of Fashion: “At Karen Walker, there are no more shows for us, as these days there are simply much better ways to engage with the industry and the customer.” And the trend is catching on, with brands seeking to create environments around their products and engage the industry – and subsequently, customers – on a more holistic level. What better way to form relationships and tell a brand’s story than over a shared meal?

Food proved to be one of the biggest trends at New York Fashion Week last year too, with designers holding luncheons and incorporating on-theme snacks as part of their shows. Designer Gabriela Hearst fuelled her guests with a pasta, cheese and prosciutto-packed lunch at Café Altro Paradiso in SoHo; Michael Kors provided a breakfast of gold leafflecked chocolate croissants; 50,000 gallons of popcorn covered the floor at the Calvin Klein show (pictured left); and guests viewing Raf Simons’ menswear collection were encouraged to help themselves to the lavish spread of bread, cheese, cake, fruit and wine that covered the runway. Insta-favourite brand Mansur Gavriel seated VIPs at tables and served them Ladurée desserts, and in December, Alexander Wang offered cocktails and caviar before his show – feasts not only for the eyes, but for hungry bellies, too.

“Food is an amazing way to bring people together,” says Lauren Tapper, director and co-founder of local shirting label Harris Tapper, who with her business partner, Sarah Harris Gould, held a breakfast at chef Simon Gault’s new Auckland restaurant Giraffe during New Zealand Fashion Week last year. “It’s nice to talk to people in person and tell our story, hear about their journey and have a rapport with each other,” she continues. “We worked with Simon Gault and the Viaduct to create an interesting menu our guests would love. He introduced each course personally. That personalisation and Simon’s touch was really important to us.”

Lauren and Sarah used their intimate breakfast as a celebration of the brand and chose to display their collection in a separate showroom where buyers could take their time to look through the pieces. It was a move that paid off with new orders from stores.

What strikes a chord most about this new food movement is that it embraces the idea of different strokes for different folks. Regardless of whether you’re someone who knows about a culinary pop-up before it’s even been announced, or you’re just here for the fried chicken at old favourite Mexico, it’s all about the vibe. Your vibe.