Delectable collaborations straddling fashion and patisserie

When French patisserie chefs draw their inspiration from fashion labels, the result is an array of delectable hybrid treats, from Fendi and Coperni handbags morphed into pastry by a pop-up Parisian patisserie, to a flannel shirt-jacket inspired by kitchen aprons, and chocolates embossed with the Louis Vuitton monogram.

On November 16, Louis Vuitton opened LV Dream, a new cultural venue with more than a passing interest in the world of cuisine, located inside the French luxury label's headquarters at 2 rue du Pont Neuf in Paris. The ground floor is designed like a vast art exhibition, while the first floor is home to a chocolate shop and a café with tropics-inspired décor, featuring confectionery by Maxime Frédéric, the dessert maestro at renowned Parisian restaurant Cheval Blanc who was named patisserie chef of the year by the Gault & Millau good food guide. Frédéric’s chocolates are embossed with the Louis Vuitton monogram and presented in replicas of the label’s iconic orange packaging.

24S, the LVMH group's luxury e-shop, will open a pop-up patisserie from December 7 to 14 in Paris’s Marais district, at 48 rue Sainte Croix de la Bretonnerie. The patisserie's confectionery has been concocted by Tal Spiegel, an influencer and pastry chef from Tel Aviv, Israel. Spiegel has created seven yummy items, his own tongue-in-cheek takes on fashion icons like the Peansie Beanie by Acne Studio and the oval Swipe Bag by Coperni. Balmain’s signature fuchsia pink jacket with six golden buttons turns into a raspberry-flavoured financier almond teacake, while Courrèges’s “Réédition” vinyl skirt becomes a crispy almond gateau.

For Christmas, pastry chef Jeffrey Cagnes has teamed up with French label Figaret, renowned for its “La Figaret de” shirt series, creating a utility shirt-jacket in flannel and black moleskin, cut in the straight lines typical of kitchen aprons. Figaret has produced the shirt in a limited edition of 160 units. In this new version of a popular Figaret model, an inside pocket holds the recipe for the Figaret, a chocolate dessert developed by Cagnes for the French label, as well as a voucher for the cake redeemable at Cagnes’s two Parisian patisseries. The cake is made of dark chocolate, cocoa and muscovado sugar, crowned with a twist of edible gold.

To celebrate the Epiphany feast, Jérémy Del Val, French dessert champion and the brains behind deli and restaurant chain Dalloyau, has designed for knitwear label Kujten a galette des rois, a traditional cake made with peanuts, chocolate and praline. A single bean hidden within the puff pastry of 15 of these cakes will give the lucky finders the chance to receive a “Hachi” bandanna, one of Kujten’s hallmark accessories. Each cake's top layer is sprinkled with icing sugar in the shape of a Tibetan endless knot, the logo of the French cashmere label created by Carole Benaroya and Stéphanie Eriksson, who was born on January 6 and always blew out her birthday candles on a galette des rois.

Delectable collaborations straddling fashion and patisserie

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