How fruit and veg became fashion’s most modest muse

Fashion muses exude a chicness most of us can only ever hope to hold. Yet, while Kate Moss has routinely flourished in fashion circles, Jane Birkin is the name behind the eponymous bag, and Grace Jones will long be heralded as a great source of designer inspiration; this season saw a new shining star boost the creativity of multiple collections. And we’re all likely to be very familiar with this face, or more accurately, skin, as the creative directors dug into the fruit and veg patch to inspire their designs for the Autumn/Winter 2024 runways.

At Chloé, Chemena Kamali created tiny gold-tone pineapples to hang on necklaces, while a limited-edition banana-shaped shoulder bag stood out as the shining accessory star of the season. Olivier Rousteing gave grapes a shot at the spotlight, creating earrings, necklaces and bags in the shape of the fruit alongside printed dresses, skirts and embellished tops depicting pears and apples. And at Loewe, Jonathan Anderson leant into the autumnal allotment aesthetic, adding radishes and ginger to silk woven sets while also creating beaded bag charms of asparagus, mushroom and peas, painting the image that the harvest festival is most definitely in fashion.

Explaining the fruity phenomenon, Dr Carolyn Mair, a cognitive psychologist, fashion business consultant and author of The Psychology Of Fashion, shares, “in times of economic uncertainty or social upheaval, there is a tendency to return to the basics, to celebrate the simple joys and essentials of life, such as fruit and veg”.

Balmain : Runway – Paris Fashion Week – Womenswear Fall/Winter 2024-2025

(Image credit: Getty Images)

“From Loewe’s asparagus charm to Balmain’s grapevine printed dress, this is about giving consumers ‘Glimmers’ – aka small moments of joy – as a much-needed distraction amid the poly-crisis,” seconds Hannah Watkins, head of prints and graphics at trend forecaster WGSN. This idea of ‘fun’ fashion being used to inject joy into a continually worrying world is also being boosted by the Spring/Summer 2025 collections. Although why fruits and vegetables are being used over bright colours, sparkles or perhaps even childhood famous faces to do this, as we’re starting to see come through in next year’s collections (hello Coperni x Disney), is still the key question for this autumn season, and there are a handful of possible answers.

“In an increasingly digital-first world, we are bombarded with information, images, and content, often leading to overstimulation and a sense of disconnect from the physical world,” explains Miar. “The fruit and vegetable motifs can be seen as a way for designers to anchor their work in something tangible, simple, and inherently natural,” she adds. “In this sense, the motifs are a visual and symbolic counterbalance to the abstract, fast-paced nature of the digital realm.”

Additionally, “featuring natural elements like fruit and vegetables in fashion items could be seen as a reflection of the shift towards sustainability and eco-consciousness,” continues Mair. And it’s this ideology that has boosted food and farming to the forefront of other industries as well – let’s cast our minds back to the ‘tomato girl’ make-up trend that took over social media this summer.

Chloé : Runway - Paris Fashion Week - Womenswear Fall/Winter 2024-2025

Chloé : Runway – Paris Fashion Week – Womenswear Fall/Winter 2024-2025

(Image credit: Getty Images)

“We’ve been tracking food in fashion for several seasons at WGSN as interest in farming, gardening, and sustainability drives a flurry of wholesome motifs. Sparked by TikTok’s #FarmTok trend, designers are appealing to Gen Z’s new green-fingered hobby by reimagining fruit and vegetables as prints and collectable accessories,” says Watkins.

Taking the trend off the runway and into physical stores, Loewe recently collaborated with New York’s Saks Fifth Avenue to create an immersive experience in celebration of five limited-edition fruit versions of the bestselling squeeze bag. Towering vegetable sculptures sat in the store windows, while a juice bar brought the fashion and food idealogy even closer. But where do we go from here?

Well, according to Watkins, food and fashion will only continue to converge. “For Spring/Summer 2025, WGSN forecasts a shift to imperfect or more unexpected foods as the next must-have. Think of buffalo tomatoes rather than perfect strawberries, and drinks and cocktails will also make their way onto graphic tees, as seen by Moschino’s spring/summer 25 collection,” she says, while noting the continual popularity in wine and spirits on social media.

So it seems ‘foodies’ truly are making their mark on the fashion space, and we will continue to see this unserious source of inspiration shift through seasons to come. Suddenly, tomatoes never seemed so chic.