The creative fusion of Art, Food and Fashion in Marketing

Food as inspiration

One of the most iconic fashion collections inspired by food culture is Jeremy Scott’s 2014 Moschino collection. He playfully subverted McDonald’s branding, turning its signature red and yellow colors into quilted handbags, which models carried on fast-food trays. The show closed with gowns featuring oversized candy wrapper prints, cementing the brand’s reputation for irreverent, pop-culture-infused fashion.

Even after Scott’s departure in 2023, Moschino has continued its love affair with food-themed couture. In 2024, they introduced the Sedano Bag—a hyper-realistic clutch resembling a head of celery—which became a viral sensation. Aldi even parodied it in an online campaign, recreating the look in the vegetable aisle to promote their 75p celery. This year, the brand doubled down on the trend with the Spaghetti Bag, which turned heads at Milan Fashion Week in February 2025.

Collaboration is king

Beyond the runway, some of the most talked-about food-inspired fashion collections have emerged from high-street collaborations.

One standout example is the 2023 jewellery collection from Greggs and Dion Kitson, which transformed cult bakery items into miniaturised accessories, including a steak bake necklace and a sausage roll pendant.

In 2024, Lidl and designer Nikolas Bentel launched the sell-out Croissant Bag at London Fashion Week. Inspired by Lidl’s bakery packaging, the bag featured a roll-top design, a croissant-shaped coin purse, and a Lidl-print lining. Reflecting on the collaboration, Bentel remarked, “I’ve always believed that design should take the mundane and make it memorable.”

These collaborations resonated with both food and fashion lovers, injecting humour and playfulness into everyday items.

The rise of “foodcore”

While the vibrant, pop-culture-fuelled aesthetics of Jeremy Scott’s era remain iconic, high fashion is shifting towards a more refined, produce-led approach to food imagery, echoing the opulent still life paintings of the 17th century. This shift aligns with the rise of sensory marketing, where brands use textures, scents, and visuals to enhance consumer connection.

In today’s climate of rising food prices and economic uncertainty, fresh produce has become a new marker of status. In her 2024 It’s Nice That article, Elizabeth Goodspeed observed, “While tomatoes weren’t always the height of class, having the leisure time and expendable income to buy non-GMO produce at the Union Square Farmers Market is undoubtedly a form of quiet luxury.”

Luxury brands are embracing this aesthetic. Loewe and Jacquemus for example, have completely eliminated products from their campaigns, instead using vegetables (or even butter!) to showcase their logos! Sounds crazy, right?

The thing is, fashion’s appetite for food isn’t fading anytime soon! It’s an evolving dialogue between two creative industries fighting for the same thing… consumer’s attention.