Tal Spiegel's special pastry collection is made up of seven recipes inspired by iconic fashion pieces. Photo: AFP
Fashion and pastry are both highly sophisticated art forms. Which helps explain why the two worlds often come together.
On Instagram, chef Tal Spiegel, famous for his account @Desserted_in_Paris, has become influential by achieving colourful pairings between his shoes and chefs' desserts.
For the first time, fans with a sweet tooth will be able to get a closer look at some of his matches through his collaboration with the 24S luxury boutique. The pastry chef has been given carte blanche to transform iconic fashion pieces, such as a Fendi bag and a Courreges skirt, into delicacies to be savoured.
Spiegel's pastry collection for 24S is made up of seven recipes inspired by the luxury boutique's most iconic fashion pieces: the new First bag by Fendi, the One Stud bag by Valentino, the six-button jacket by Balmain, the Arthur Sneakers by Burberry, the Swipe Bag by Coperni, the Reedition vinyl skirt by Courreges, and the Pansy Beanie by Acne Studios.
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Today you have more than 300,000 people following you and your aesthetically pleasing @Desserted_in_ Paris account on Instagram, in which you pair pastries from top chefs with your shoes. It's become one of the most influential accounts in the business. So how did it all start?
I come from Tel Aviv where I worked as an art director after having studied design. Eight years ago, I left Israel for Paris to learn pastry and to combine it with my passion for design. I trained at the Ferrandi school to learn the techniques, and I followed internships at Gerard Mulot and at Utopie bakery. I opened my account @Desserted_in_ Paris one year after my arrival to explore French pastry creations. It's a kind of inspirational catalog that allowed me to understand how chefs build their cakes.
At first, I didn't necessarily pair them with shoes. One day, one of the photos showed an interesting match between my shoes and the dessert. And I wanted to go explore that further.
Are shoes your favourite fashion item?
I like shoes a lot and in general everything that is very colourful. When I started @Desserted_in_Paris, I already had a collection of colourful shoes. All the ones you see on the account are my own shoes.
And how do you select the pastries?
The first point of interest for me is their visual appeal. I think we eat with our eyes first. The desserts must be very colourful and creative.
I think that everyone who follows you wants to know the same thing: how do you go about taking your photos? Particularly when the desserts are very fragile?
There have been some instances of breakage (laughs). An assistant helps me. I do photo shoots, such as one for the end-of-year holidays. It's hard to take pictures of the yule log cakes. Not only are they often big in scale, they're also heavy!
Sometimes I do photo sessions with the chefs. It's not a photo montage, it's me carrying the dessert and these are indeed my shoes!
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How did you choose the flavours and textures in order to re-create seven iconic 24S fashion pieces as pastries?
First, I determined each piece's iconic colours. I designed the cakes as artistic pieces that I've imbued with minimalist colours, as a continuation of the original tone. But, I also wanted to find connections to the flavours in each recipe.
There are seven different flavours that evoke winter. And I imagined associations between several ingredients: fig and granola or lemon and almonds. In terms of textures, I contemplated a balance between crunchy and soft. Each dessert has its own base to offer different textures.
The pastries will only be available for seven days.
Would you like to open your own shop one day?
Of course it's a dream of mine (laughs). Soon perhaps... In the meantime I'm giving many pastry masterclasses, and my new book is coming out in three weeks. – AFP Relaxnews
