Yesterday, I played chef, for the restaurant day , an event during which anyone can open their ephemeral restaurant for a day.

My friends at Révélateur design , had imagined a fun concept, in which the customer contributed to the cooking process by finalizing the assembly and the cooking/seasoning, while agreeing with the other guests to choose the dish that they wanted. they were going to taste.

For my part, I had prepared vegetables “ready to taste” and to mix according to my recipes – roasted asparagus with lemon, carrot tagliatelle, “white-haired” leeks (yes, yes, that’s how the Japanese call leeks sliced ​​lengthwise) – from vegetables too old for sale but still delicious, collected from supermarkets, the aim being to fight against food waste.

And I really enjoyed the experience because I love to cook!

Yesterday, while I was dressed in my cook’s apron, some were surprised to learn that I was actually working as a stylist, a job that seemed diametrically opposed to them.

Yet when I think about it, my approach to styling and cooking are quite similar.

Here are my tips for being as creative on your plate and in your sneakers.

1.Consider reality

What season are we in? What ingredients and equipment do I have? Would I get help? Are my guests allergic? Vegetarians? Don’t they eat certain ingredients for religious reasons? Is it a cool or sophisticated meal? Is there a special occasion? A theme?

2. Dress

What weather is it? What clothes are available to me? Do I have enough to buy new things? Have I lost/gained weight? Is this final? Can the tear in this dress be repaired? What are the codes at my job? What type of marriage is it?

3. Draw inspiration from reality

Creativity is often boosted by constraints. We can, for example, see this in classical poetry.

Or, closer to our theme of the day, in Top chef, when the candidates have to cook dishes in ubiquitous situations. Or in the world of fashion, when an artistic director is appointed head of a house associated with a large number of codes with which he must compose his own stylistic partition (Raf Simons at Dior or Karl Lagerfeld at Chanel by example).

To cook

Suppose my constraint is to prepare an autumn dish for a vegetarian friend and that I only have an oven to cook with.

Autumn being squash season, I would choose a butternut squash, for example, which I would roast in the oven with cheddar cheese and hazelnuts. As an accompaniment, a salad of lamb’s lettuce and soft-boiled egg.

1. Dress

This time, let’s imagine that I want to compose you a warm and sexy winter outfit for a date and that your legs are your best asset.

I would choose a sweater and a thick coat accompanied by opaque tights and high heel boots

2. Take inspiration from others

In the kitchen as in look, it is a question of having an open mind on the world at all times because inspiration can arise from anywhere.

To cook

In a restaurant, with friends, in a foreign country, watching a cooking show… observe and see what you could reproduce.

The other day, while I was watching Top Chef (I think you had caught that I was following), one of the candidates baked a pineapple in the oven by sticking a stick of lemongrass in it and leaving the skin, which aroused the admiration of the chefs. Yet it’s stupid as cabbage, isn’t it? Well that I will test it, for sure!

Similarly, I recently dined at a trendy Parisian restaurant where the chef had sprinkled his salad with toasted black bread in salted butter. Easy to do again right?

Dress

We observe and learn from what we see.

This winter, I saw an elderly lady in the street, very chic in her turquoise sweater and camel shearling. Well that made me want to test this color combo more often!

Watching the Carven show last season, the little A-line skirts caught my eye. Now that I have one, I wear it with a close-fitting sweater, like in the collection.