Streetwear & streetfood: the winning recipe!
Summary
Displaying pizza slices on socks, hot dots as a signature on a polo or cheesy burgers on a dress is a fashion phenomenon that has been very successful for a few years. It is a fact, street food and junk food have managed to infiltrate areas far from their usual domain, thus creating collaborations as unlikely as explosive.
Champagne or Kebab?
Having become fashion staples, junk food patterns first appeared in 2014 on fashion week runways. At the time, the brilliant Jérémy Scott, artistic director of Moschino, had imagined sets diverting the iconic logo of the world's number 1 fast food chain, McDonald's. Although the two worlds seem quite distant at first glance, the synergy works well and the feedback is explosive! Everyone wants it! Artists, brands and influencers have understood this well and now posting a photo with a frappuccino from Starbucks, a burger from Five Guys or a coke in hand is essential. Not only does it allow their fans to better understand their life but also to identify with them! At Project X Paris, a reference in urban fashion, we do not hesitate to play with this trend which perfectly fits our values. Indeed, streetwear and street food respect the same codes. Since our creation in 2015, we draw our inspiration from urban culture of which street food is an integral part.
Among our big collabs, we recently worked with the French rapper Uzi. For this shoot, the performer of the track "A la fête" wore the Tiles capsule in black and white checks and posed with a kebab and a bottle of champagne! A striking and bold contrast, proving that anything goes and that fancy food and junk food can be the perfect pairing! A hit on our social networks!
Junk Food Accessories the Shoots
Constantly anchored in our daily lives, junk food is now inseparable from our lifestyles. Influential cities like New York count nearly 83 McDonald's, a colossal number that says a lot about young people's consumption expectations. Some of our campaigns have therefore been largely inspired by the codes that junk food conveys to play with. We can notably see model Sophie Randria posing in a white tracksuit full Signature look holding a Starbucks cup or our female-male duo walking in 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 couple goals! Our gray reflect tracksuit set is also highlighted by one of our models holding an oversized cup straight from McDonald's. Moreover, we did not hesitate to invest supermarket aisles during our shoots, notably to showcase the new colors of the signature jogging pants. Here, our model poses in front of a Capri Sun aisle that strongly recalls the yellow of his outfit. This soda, elected favorite drink of French rappers, is even a source of inspiration for musicians who go as far as praising it in their lyrics like rappers Jul, BoyBandit or Timal who did not hesitate to use the colorful carton of the famous soda as the sole decor of his clip. No wonder the drink sells like hotcakes to a young audience eager to look like their idols!
McDonald's, Starbucks, KFC…
Some brands even go further and attempt collaborations that we would have thought unlikely until now. We think of the brand Cactus Jack, from American rapper Travis Scott, who teamed up with McDonald's to create an exclusive clothing line. For the occasion, the performer of "Sicko Mode" imagined a unique and temporary collection with t-shirts, hoodies, caps, ties, a figurine in his likeness and even a nugget-shaped pillow… elected the most WTF product on the web! In total, there are nearly 60 pieces, ranging from 25 to 300 dollars, which took up the codes of fast food and the rapper's brand. A big, well-organized and very successful PR stunt since fans snapped up the items. If McDonald's was the pioneer, others quickly followed. For Starbucks' 20th anniversary, the chain also decided to mark the occasion. Besides the collaboration with TikTok star Junior JMSS, which made a lot of buzz, the brand decided to create its own clothing line. To do this, it partnered with the Parisian streetwear brand Tealer. T-shirts, hoodies, shirts… In total, 9 unisex pieces came out of this association inspired by Edouard Manet's painting "Le déjeuner sur l’herbe" to design this collection. Among the fastest-selling pieces, a t-shirt with "Subway" written on the front with sandwich logos on the back but also those featuring the painting "Le déjeuner sur l’herbe" which was completely rethought and restyled.
KFC has also partnered several times with big names in fashion. In 2018, the American fast-food chain notably collaborated with streetwear stylist NIGO, founder of the brands Human Made and Hypemaker. Together, they designed a "Human Made x KFC Capsule" collection featuring the portrait of Colonel Sanders and using the colors of the globally known brand. Varsity-style jackets, men's hoodies, slides, tote bags, t-shirts… pieces sold between 20 and 375 dollars! It was not a first for KFC since a few years earlier, it had offered its own collection of "ugly" Christmas sweaters!
An Unlimited Inspiration
Beyond collaborations with artists, fast food chains have understood that there is a real demand for this kind of outfits and have released their own merch, thus directly entering fashionistas' wardrobes. In July 2020, McDonald's offered two swimsuit models featuring the codes of their famous yellow and red striped straws! Pieces that only Austrians could get but which made waves far beyond the hot dog country. Indeed, McDonald's, often criticized for its poor waste management, used this campaign to try to improve its eco-friendly image. And for good reason, it did not hesitate to use leftover straw stocks, which the chain stopped offering only since 2019, to create these swimsuits. More recently, it is the Five Guys chain, well known for its premium burgers and well-sauced hot dogs, that launched its own collection in Great Britain. It takes up very American codes from 90s streetwear by offering a varsity jacket, t-shirts, socks, sweaters and beanies. The collection, not very eccentric but very refined, highlights the fast food logo and also features its delicious milkshake. Pieces sell between 10 pounds for socks and 75 pounds for the collection's centerpiece, the varsity jacket. No doubt stocks will be quickly sold out!