Chef Sophia Roe On Food, Fashion And Brunello Cucinelli’s FW22 Collection
The award-winning chef and TV host shares her style tips as she showcases the Italian house’s versatile and ultra-luxe new collection
Sophia Roe is obsessed with food. “I’m the girl on the red carpet at the Met Gala talking about mushrooms,” she laughs. The James Beard Award-winning chef, TV host and writer doesn’t just want to wax lyrical about fungi and her favorite recipes though – Roe is a devoted advocate for food justice and diversity in wellness, too. Last year, she was invited to the Met Gala as one of 10 chefs curating a sustainable, 100 percent plant-based menu for its glamorous attendees. When dressing up, her priorities are to look cool but unintimidating: “I never want to look unapproachable. [I want people to think] ‘That looks cool, I want to talk to her’, because for the most part, in every room I’m in, I really am trying to talk to people about important stuff.”
She likens her sartorial eye to her approach to food: “I don’t understand why everything needs to look perfect – why do we have to take the grapes off the stem? I think nature [already] made food perfect, so I just keep things kind of funky and unique, and I adopt that same thinking with my own style.” Unsurprisingly, gatherings chez Roe are a relaxed affair. Her dining table is surrounded by a hodgepodge of eight different chairs that she and her partner, Chris, and his son, Kenzo, have added to bring an easy, eclectic and welcoming feel to their home.
Here, Roe showcases the sumptuous FW22 collection by Brunello Cucinelli – an Italian heritage house feted for its ethical approach to fashion as well as its high-quality handmade appeal – and shares her style secrets.
“If your butter, flour, salt and olive oil are really good, it is impossible for your food to taste bad, and I feel like it’s identical with fashion. Your heritage pieces – great shoes, a well-made knit, a really good coat [are] investment pieces
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Find your staples and get creative
“The jumpsuit [seen below] is like a Sophia trademark. There’s nothing that embodies me and my workday more than a jumpsuit. I love the utility – it’s got pockets in the back and the front and there’s nothing better than a zipper; it’s easy. And when you wear white, you really can play up so many other elements – you can wear purple eye makeup, or jewelry; there’s so much cool stuff you can do with the canvas of white.”
“I’m really liking the utility and comfort that’s being positioned in clothing… I feel like that’s something that we need to pick up on more, particularly in ready-to-wear. We want to look cool, but we also want to not be constricted. As a New Yorker, we want to be able to go from day to night in an instant
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Embrace comfort
“I’m really liking the utility and comfort that’s being positioned in clothing… [We did] a really cool layering moment with the white T-shirt and gray vest [in this shoot], which is an interesting way to create comfort. I feel like that’s something that we need to pick up on more, particularly in ready-to-wear. We want to look cool, but we also want to not be constricted. As a New Yorker, we want to be able to go from day to night in an instant. This [leather jacket and skirt] look was so great because yes, there’s a skirt and there’s a jacket, but if I take that jacket off and change the shoe it’s a whole different vibe.”
Invest in closet foundations
“People say ‘pantry staples’ to me all the time and here’s the thing – if your butter, flour, salt and olive oil are really good, it is impossible for your food to taste bad, and I feel like it’s identical with fashion. Your heritage pieces – great shoes, a well-made knit, a really good coat [are] investment pieces, right? But these are pieces that you’re meant to wear forever. These are also the base of a really great wardrobe. So, if you’ve got that coat, no matter what you mix it with, it’s going to be amazing.”