FOOD AS FASHION

The world’s favorite accessory

Milan Fashion Week always delivers glamour, nostalgia, celebrity, and performance, all often served with a side of drama, and this year has been no different. There was a supermodel reunion, and runways were filled with 1950s throwbacks, camp, minimalism, and flair, which all left us longing for something to eat.

We asked Victoria Cece, our Roman correspondent, to talk all things fame and Italian fashion. But, instead, she cut into the world’s favorite accessory, food.

If someone stopped you on the street and asked you what Italy is famous for – what would you say?

You’d probably say food. And if it’s not food, it’s fashion.

The two are glamorous echoes of Italian history keeping the world under a spell. Whether it’s slipping on Prada heels or slurping a sexy bowl of spaghetti, each is a statement that grabs attention, makes us feel good, and screams Italian!

If Italian fashion is obviously fashionable, it’s innocent to ask – how did Italian food become fashionable?

A QUICK HISTORY

Italian food and beverages have become the world’s favorite accessory.

Of course, we could blame it on the Italians’ knack for style in just about anything. One scroll on Tiktok or Instagram, and you’ll be blown away by the effortless elegance of Milanese nonne having a coffee in their finest fur or a Roman businessman speeding away on a scooter in a perfectly pointed Armani suit.

Italian food and beverage have long had that same effect. Like fashion, food is an experience conveyed through vivid imagery since the early days of ‘Made in Italy’ marketing.

We’ve all been charmed by vintage Italian art deco advertisements featuring Italy’s iconic food and beverage. Think red and black Campari posters with chic women holding bottles of the beloved aperitivo. Maybe you saw it on the wall of a stylish caffeteria in Milan or just on Pinterest. Either way, the poster made us think: sipping that Campari would make us feel fabulous.

These advertisements were so ingenious that their effect hasn’t faded after all these years, when Italian food and fashion’s Renaissance began back in the 1950s and 1960s.

Sure, Italian food and fashion predate this time – when kings and queens dressed in the finest silks and velvet robes, eating foreign fruits like tomatoes. However, the real beginnings of the Italian food and fashion we know today evolved during the Economic Miracle that came post World War II in the 1950s and 1960s. During this period, a major injection of financial resources gave hope to every Italian and gave opportunity to modern Italian visionaries to get to work.

With centuries of art history in their veins, these creators put to market the beauty of Italy in every detail, and every food and beverage. Italy ravaged by war was of the past – the Italy of la dolce vita, the Italy of the now, is here. Fashion, food, and beverage became an indulgence, an experience – not just a need for survival.

Like Campari, it is not just a bitter red digestif – it is the way to turn any moment, anywhere, into a chic aperitivo in a bustling piazza, alongside well-dressed Italians. Since then, Italian food and beverage has evolved as a global go-to accessory.

PASTA, THE ULTIMATE ACCESSORY

The most popular Italian pantry item is a powerful fashion statement.

How many times have we seen a photo of Sophia Loren enjoying a bowl of pasta or read her famous quote, “Everything you see I owe to spaghetti.”

Her elegance, allure, wit, and beauty are all because of pasta, a simple, affordable accessory that tells us we can do anything. When summer arrives, everyone channels the Loren energy in curated photos of cute outfits and bowls of pasta, eager to get the perfect shot of a spaghetti twirl.

Loren’s pasta legacy has even inspired big fashion houses to embrace food. Who could forget Dolce & Gabbana’s 2016 and 2017 campaigns, an ode to the culture and mysticism of Loren’s la città partenopea, Napoli? The brand’s 2017 perfume campaign “The One Grey” featured actor Kit Harington waltzing around a lively Neapolitan market, dancing with the locals who are boasting platters of babà al rum, Napoli’s queen dessert.

Dolce & Gabbana’s picture of Napoli is quite idyllic—a colorful one we wish to enter with every bite of spaghetti.

And we can. Dolce & Gabbana now collaborates with Pasta di Martino, a recognized brand from the historic pasta-producing area of Gragnano in Campania. The fashion house’s trademark patterns add a stylish touch to your bags of spaghetti and fusilli.

Today, pasta is no longer just a fashion statement; it is a literal accessory.

Meet Barilla’s pasta bag. Yes, one of the most famous pasta brands has a purse. Designed by Nik Betel, the “pasta” bag took over TikTok as the most coveted accessory. Since then, everything from farfalle earrings to pasta scarves has surfaced – with people ready to sport their favorite food wherever and whenever.

Would Sophia Lorena approve of the pasta bag? We’d have to ask the Queen herself. Regardless, the alignment of food and fashion in Italy is no surprise.

From its Baroque buildings to its numerous pasta shapes to Balenciaga’s recreation of the trash bag, Italy has shown the world that it will long be a center of creativity, ingenuity, and experimentation. Food is art, fashion is art, and Italy is art.

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