Putting pizza slices on your socks, signature hot dots on your polo shirt or cheesy burgers on your dress is a fashion phenomenon that's been enjoying great success over the past few years. It's a fact that street food and junk food have managed to infiltrate environments far removed from their preferred domain, giving rise to collabs as unlikely as they are explosive.
Champagne or kebab?
Now a fashion staple, junk food motifs first appeared on the fashion week catwalks in 2014. At the time, the brilliant Jeremy Scott, Moschino's artistic director, designed ensembles hijacking the emblematic logo of the world's number 1 fast-food brand, Mc Donalds. At first glance, the two worlds may seem rather distant, but the synergy works and the returns are explosive! Everyone's asking for it! Artists, brands and influencers have understood this, and now posting a photo with a starbucks frappuccino, a five guys burger or a coke in hand is a must. Not only does it give their fans a better understanding of their lives, it also helps them identify with them! At Project X Paris, the benchmark for urban fashion, we don't hesitate to play with this trend, which fits in perfectly with our values. Indeed, streetwear and street food respect the same codes. Since our creation in 2015, we have drawn our inspiration from urban culture, of which street food is an integral part.
Among our big collabs, we recently worked with French rapper Uzi. For the shoot, the "A la fête" singer wore a black-and-white checkered Tiles capsule and posed with a kebab and a bottle of champagne! A daring contrast, proving that fancy food and junk food can be the perfect pairing! A hit on our networks!
Junk food accessorizes photo shoots
Constantly present in our daily lives, junk food has become an integral part of our lifestyles. Influential cities like New York boast 83 McDonald's, a colossal figure that speaks volumes about young people's consumer expectations. Some of our campaigns have been inspired by the codes that junk food conveys and play with them. For example, model Sophie Randria poses in a white tracksuit Signature total look with a starbuck's cup in hand, or our man-woman duo walking down the street sharing a baguette sandwich and drinking a starbucks. For this shoot, he wore an oversized beige jacket paired with loose denim, for a perfect goals pairing! Our gray reflect tracksuit set is also highlighted by one of our models holding an oversized cup straight from McDonald's. We also took to the supermarket shelves during our shoots, in particular to showcase the new colors of our signature jogging suits. Here, our model poses in front of an aisle of capri sun, reminiscent of the yellow of her outfit. Soda, voted the favorite drink of French rappers, is even a source of inspiration for musicians who go so far as to praise it in their lyrics, such as rappers Jul, BoyBandit and Timal, who didn't hesitate to use the colorful soda's berlingot as the sole backdrop for his video. It's hardly surprising, then, that the drink is selling like hotcakes to a young public eager to look like their idols!
McDonald's, Starbucks, KFC...
Some brands go even further, attempting collaborations previously thought unlikely. One example is Cactus Jack, a brand owned by American rapper Travis Scott, who has teamed up with Mc Donald's to create an exclusive clothing line. For the occasion, the "Sicko Mode" performer has designed a unique, temporary collection of T-shirts, hoodies and other items, caps In addition to the rapper's own products, the line also featured a number of other items, including ties, a figurine in his likeness and even a pillow in the shape of a nugget... voted the wackiest product on the web! In all, nearly 60 items, ranging from $25 to $300, were designed online with the rapper's fast-food and brand codes. It was a well-constructed and highly successful publicity stunt, with fans snapping up the items. While McDonald's was a trailblazer, others were quick to follow suit. On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of starbucks, the chain also decided to mark the occasion. In addition to the much-talked-about collaboration with TikTok star Junior JMSS, the chain decided to create its own clothing line for the occasion. To do so, it teamed up with Parisian streetwear brand Tealer. T-shirt, hoodie In all, 9 non-genre pieces were produced by the association, which drew its inspiration for the collection from Edouard Manet's painting "Le déjeuner sur l'herbe". Among the fastest-selling pieces were a T-shirt featuring Subway on the front and sandwich logos on the back, as well as those featuring the painting "Le déjeuner sur l'herbe", which has been completely redesigned and restyled.
KFC has also partnered with big names in fashion on several occasions. In 2018, the American fast-food chain notably collaborated with streetwear designer NIGO, behind the Human Made and Hypemaker brands. Together, they designed a "Human Made x KFC Capsule" collection featuring, among other things, the portrait of Colonel Sanders and echoing the color codes of the world-famous brand. Varsity-style jackets, men's hoodies, flip-flops, tote bags, t-shirts...the pieces sold for between $20 and $375! This wasn't a first for KFC: a few years earlier, the brand had launched its own collection of "ugly" Christmas sweaters!
Inspiration without limits
Beyond collabs with artists, fast food chains have understood that there is a real expectation for this kind of outfits and have released their own merch, inviting themselves directly into fashionistas' wardrobes. In July 2020, McDonald's offered two swimsuit models based on their famous yellow and red striped straws! These pieces were only available to Austrians, but they caused a stir far beyond the land of the hot dog. Indeed, McDonald's, often criticized for its poor waste management, used this campaign to try and restore its eco-responsible image. And for good reason, it didn't hesitate to use leftover stocks of straws, which the chain won't be offering again until 2019, to create these shirts. More recently, Five Guys, well known for its premium burgers and saucy hot dogs, launched its own collection in the UK. The collection takes its cue from the American streetwear of the 90s, with a varsity jacket, a pair of t-shirts socks, sweaters and hats. The slightly eccentric but stylish collection features the fast-food logo and its delicious milkshake. Pieces range in price from 10 pounds for the socks to 75 pounds for the collection's centerpiece, the varsity jacket. No doubt stocks will soon run out!
