F[ood]ash•ion
byJAY
KOS
Amish Country & Fashion Week
#9 | September 2010
Amish C All photographs by
The Amish have always fascinated me. I used
tercourse and other Amish towns around Pennsylv decade ago and this month I had an itching to go take a closer look at the clothes they wear.
A lot has changed. Although they still ride in ho is a friendliness and an openness that I do not previo window shades or behind a bush. They would star This time, they were more approachable.
Still, they will not let you take their picture and, country was to photograph them and their food fo tographer, Erica Simone, has perfected the “Shootin it sounds like, she coughs…….and shoots from the
So I came to Amish country looking forward to side of the Amish culture, as well as to find locally gro chicken. I found neither to my liking!
We started at the farmer’s market in Lancast English people (how the Amish refer to non-Amish) barely a farmer’s market. There was only one sta stand at all. The presentation was really depressing that sold organic grass fed beef and chicken was as thought and nothing looked that fresh. I wanted so was not inspired at the market so we decided to hit turned out to be just as bad. After hitting up at lea was sprayed, I began to become more and more u to make a corn soup that I had tasted in Santa Fe a to find a local Amish outfit to bring home. This also I had created two jackets that were inspired by the the sleeves on, pick up your carrots and sauté awa
With no corn and no clothes, a few organic pe to a total of $3.62, we did what any self-proclaimed to Hershey Park and saw middle America in its gl overwhelming… just in a very non-Jay Kos sort of
Country Erica Simone
d to go quite often to Lancaster, Bird in Hand, Invania. The last time I went was probably almost a back and seek out local organic foods and also to
orse-and-buggies and live without electricity, there ously recall. In the past, they would hide behind their re at you through the barn but not come outside.
, of course, the whole point of my coming to Amish or my blog, so this became difficult. But my sly phong from the Hip Cough Shot� which is exactly what e hip.
o find somewhat of an uncomfortable, almost scary own, organic corn and tomatoes, grass-fed beef and
ter. This was a mixture of Amish, Mennonites, and ). Compared to the farmers markets in NYC, it was and selling organic vegetables, which was hardly a g and there was not a lot of choice. The meat stand depressing as the rest. It almost looked like an after o badly to find something to cook for this blog and t the local Amish homes that have farm stands. This ast four corn stands and being told that all the corn un-inspired and, to make it worse, I had this itching a few months ago. Then out of boredom, I decided o became impossible. From previous trips out here, e Amish: unconstructed jackets that you can roll up ay!
eppers and tomatoes and a watermelon that came d designer of food and fashion would do‌ we went lory, where the marrying of food and fashion was way.
Hershey Park
a little field trip...
Fashion Week “Clothing Meets Cooking: Jay Kos Starts Fashion Week with Food” by Elva Ramirez, Wall Street Journal – September 8th 2010
Chef Kerry Heffernan & Jay Kos
Menswear designer Jay Kos held an
intimate dinner last night in honor of his Spring 2011 collection. There weren’t any models, just male guests wearing borrowed threads (polka dot ties dominated). And in place of a runway show with harried editors and gatecrashers, an eclectic group of guests, which included a New York Knick, two of Jimmy Fallon’s writers, a DJ, and an independent film producer sat down at Jumeirah Essex House’s South Gate for a four-course meal inspired by the designer’s spring line. Chef Kerry Heffernan said that the collaboration began with Kos’ edict that all the ingredients be sourced locally and be in season. It is a contradiction to put together a spring dinner with late summer ingredients, the chef said, but he was
able to make it work by using brightly colored ingredients, like heirloom tomato and yellow romano beans, that suggested early spring. A white eggplant soup started the dinner, followed by “polka dots” of mozzarella and heirloom tomato with “an ascot” of chive oil, red pepper flan and seared tuna. Roasted peaches and earl grey ice cream were served for dessert. The textures of the ingredients were meant to suggest an awareness of fabrics, the chef said. Chef Heffernan said that green beans were julienned to make them velvety, while the seared tuna was cut to suggest something like corduroy. “That is intentional, to create a tension between the two textures,” Mr. Heffernan said. Mr. Kos says he’s been cooking his entire life, and doesn’t make a distinction between being inspired to put together a dish or using the visuals of fresh vegetables as a springboard for design. If forced to choose between appearing on “Project Runway” or “Top Chef,” Mr. Kos said that he’d pick the cooking competition, although he shares a similar outlook on clothing and cooking. “My issue with fashion is that I think everything is over-designed,” he said. “Fashion, when kept very simple, is great.” And similarly: “Once you taste something that is in season, small amounts of ingredients, it’s just an amazing feeling.”