The comfortable shoe of choice for chefs is having a fashion moment.
On a recent Saturday morning , while waiting in line for a crescent roll at a trendy bakery in business district Manhattan , I spotted a twain of coffee - gloss , rather jellylike - looking , parapraxis - on shoes . The wearer paired them with bloodless tube socks , obviously , and a preppy , Emma Chamberlain - inspiredensemble .
I started noticing this particular footgear everywhere . Later , I ’d larn from an Instagram ad that they areFrench garden clogsmade with 100 % recyclable charge plate and hemp . Completely waterproof , they ’re designed to be wear for harvesting vegetables , cookery , and , patently , going on pastry runs .
We could attribute this tendency to former aughtsgorpcorefashion , or the requirement for comfort in a post - pandemic worldly concern , but there ’s no abnegate the footgear ’s roots in the culinary industry . Restaurant worker have always relied on waterproofed , slip - resistant clog dancing to get them through longsighted hours spent at the back of the planetary house . And when chefs ( aka Carmy fromThe Bear ) become the new cool , so too do their kitchen - safe shoes .
Design by Maitane Romagosa for Thrillist
This is not the first meter I ’ve seenrubber shoesromping around New York City . Crocs have been wassail in their comeback for quite some time now . On the streetwear spectrum , Merrel ’s otherworldly Hydro Mocshave been pee-pee a picture , as have Aime Leon Doré’sGarden Mule . Prada even has itsown $ 625 translation . And of the more mainstream variety , there ’s Hunter’sPlay Clogs , Ugg’sTasman X , and Birkenstock’sSuper - Birki .
The classical Dansko clog has beena favourite among chefs — as well as cool aunts — for decades , praised for the “ anti - fatigue rocking chair bottom ” that supply the kind of lower - back keep you need while standing on your feet all Clarence Day . But chefs are now set out to see even more pick come out before their eye . “ I wear out a raft of Crocs , and then I discovered all these other , well - design , thoughtful rubber clogs that I now wear , either in the kitchen or in my daily life , ” say Woldy Reyes , the chef behind dress shop catering company and roving popup , Woldy Kusina .
Before founding Woldy Kusina , Reyes drop six years do work in the way diligence . Today , he continues to work with brands like J. Crew and Stella McCartney , through which he now showcases artful presentation ofmodern Philippine food .
For both cooking and shooting way campaigns , Reyes is a devotee ofGardenheir’semerald green Italian garden clog , as well as the aforementioned recycled hemp clogs , which he now sees “ a lot of New Yorkers wearing . ” They ’re useful , yet chic . “ The way that they ’re cut out , and the way that they sit on your fundament , is just so dissimilar from the other kitchen shoe out there , ” he says .
" The manner that they sit on your foot is just so different from the other kitchen shoe out there . "
Shows likeThe BearandBon Appetit’sTest Kitchenare turning the otherwise utilitarian chef uniform into something aspirational ( see : the aestheticization of the deli container ) . Cristina Spiridakis and Courtney Wheeler , the costume designers behindThe Bear , struck a proportionality between honoring the outfit alternative typical of Chicago chefs andinjecting personality into each character ’s closet . The result ? Everyone require Carmy’sbasic snowy T - shirt . Similarly , trade name likeTilitandHedley & Bennetthave been modernizing workwear with silklike chef coating and proscenium .
“ I think multitude are starting to see chefs being more thoughtful about their sartorial choices , ” Reyes says . He cites a young wave of front - look chefs — Sophia Roe , Danny Bowien , and Marcus Samuelsson , to name a few — who are channeling the expressive energy of their sweetheart with more creative fashion pick and then showcasing that elan on social spiritualist . “ I finger like the definition of a chef has sort of evolve in the last 10 years , ” he says . “ We ’re embark on to see chefs not just in eatery , but on social media . ”
In turn , consumer and larger fashion house — whether it ’s the chicken or the ball , it ’s tough to say — are emulating the elan of that voguish culinarian , elevating all thing functional . “ I think it ’s extremely cool that brands are taking notice of what chefs are put on , and now chefs are sort of like muses , ” Reyes says .
Some might argue that the rise of the kitchen sabot , and its associations withchef - core , is part of our genesis ’s tendency — to quote Kim Kardashian — to bask in the fun without doing any of the unvoiced work : to want to be a cook , to want to dress like a cook , but to not in reality be a cook . Or , maybe we ’re just really good at playing dress - up .
