Imogen Kwok: Fashion’s Favorite Chef
Imogen Kwok is not only a masterful chef: she is also an ingenious artist and designer. She creates intricate, whimsical food installations so beautiful you almost don’t want to eat them. Her designs play with our conception of how food should look, as well as how it should be consumed; pears that are not pears but intricate desserts, and hard boiled eggs that are not actually made of egg, but rice.
Courtesy of Architectural Digest Spain
The American artist was born in Australia to Chinese and Korean parents. She earned a degree in Art History in Scotland, after which, upon realizing she had a craving for more tactile work, she went to culinary school. Her vast experience in art and cooking, as well as the numerous cultures she has been immersed in have formed her unique and experimental style of cooking and food design. A rising star, she has been gaining momentum quickly over the last two years, and is rapidly becoming one of the most sought after chefs in the fashion and art worlds.
She says that for her, “fashion and food are seamless,” so it makes sense that she works with brands such as Loewe. She has done culinary design for several of their events, including an interactive culinary experience in order to allow guests to ‘taste’ Loewe’s 2021 fall collection.
Courtesy of Architectural Digest
She also worked with Loewe for the launch of their Earth perfume, incorporating notes from the fragrance into her dishes so that the flavor of the food mirrored the scent. Going beyond flavor, however, the fragrance was also evoked in the presentation design itself, with beautiful round pools of condiments and leafy greens supporting curving archways of lotus crisps.
Courtesy of Architectural Digest Spain
The mark of great art is the evocation of a multisensory experience. Imogen treats each plate or tablescape as a still life painting, showing that excellent food need not be practical, and in fact impracticality can be the best thing about it. Perhaps the same can be said of some of the most interesting fashion designs.
Courtesy of Something Curated
Imogen makes food into an experience of luxury and novelty the same way that the best fashion labels do for clothing. Her exceptional attention to detail and way of making every ingredient unexpected and beautiful is something that every Haute Couture label should aspire to. With the ability to take the simplest things and imbue them with a sense of whimsy and longing, it makes sense that her work is becoming frequently sought out in the fashion world. She is certainly someone to keep an eye on; as she will certainly continue gaining attention, it’s tempting to say that she will become a star, though that’s not entirely accurate, because she already is.
Courtesy of Something Curated