We’ve got some articles on chocolate-themed fashion this month because those of us who love chocolate certainly don’t mind wearing our love of the cacao on our sleeves. But what if you could literally wrap yourself in chocolate this fall? Okay, due to melting problems and flexibility issues, it’s probably not recommended that you give the literal-chocolate wear a try for a casual look or even for the special evening party, unless you plan to make a splash one second and see your gown literally splash on the ground the next. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t those who have created edible fashion and seen it work—for a few hours!
The Food Network Challenge (website) takes a cue from the likes of Iron Chef and pits master chefs from across the nation against each other in timed competitions for large cash prizes and the all-important bragging rights. Although the varied focus of the competitions has ranged from burgers to chili to bbq, of course pastries—and our favorite sweet, chocolate—have made quite a few appearances as the show’s theme.
Perhaps no episode has been so fitting for our fall fashion issue than the Chocolate Runway Challenge, which first aired in February 2007 and can still be seen in reruns. Inspired by the fashion show that opens New York’s annual Chocolate Show, five top pastry chefs and their assistants competed for sixteen hours over a period of two days to create a dress made up of at least 75% real chocolate. Not only would the chefs have to design the dress themselves—a skill that not many pastry chefs can say they’ve ever put to use—but they had to create the chocolate and fabric (if used) parts of the dress in the studio, with no more than 50% of the chocolate parts completed in the first day. (Although time was so pressed, most chefs felt they couldn’t even get that much chocolate molded in the first day!)
After the chefs and their assistants scrambled to get the dresses done as the clock reached zero, they had to outfit a real model in the chocolate gown and have her be able to walk down the runway. Studio lights started to melt some of the ladies’ tastier accessories before judging began, but all five teams managed to complete incredible, delectable dresses that were able to withstand the heat—both from the lights and from the judges—and really shine.
Chocolate Zoom managed to get an exclusive interview with the third-place winner of the Food Network Chocolate Runway Challenge, Martin Howard, Pastry Chef at New York’s Brasserie 8 ½ (website), and his assistant, Michael Plosky. No strangers to edible fashion, Mr. Howard and Mr. Plosky have brought their chocolate fashion prowess to the annual Chocolate Show for many years. Their design last year, Autumn Leaves, featured an incredible montage of textures and colors in chocolate that called to mind the vibrant life that exists in nature even in the decaying seasons. Look for their newest design to become a sure highlight in the show this November!
Mr. Howard and Mr. Plosky’s Chocolate Runway Challenge entry was an evening gown with a New York theme, which included a hat made up of chocolate buildings in the New York skyline and a chocolate-based dress covered in chocolate taxi cabs. Said Mr. Howard on the show, "The more over the top you go with this, the more people are going to love it!"
CZ: What led you to compete in this challenge?
Martin: The Food Network actually was looking for new ideas for their Challenge Series so I told them all about the Chocolate Fashion Show at the Chocolate Show in NY and they loved the idea.
Michael: My background and passion is costume design and using innovative materials, and Martin and I have been friends for many years, so it seemed like it was a match made in heaven!
CZ: Why did you pick the New York theme for your gown?
Martin: We are both New Yorkers so we really wanted to pay tribute to the greatest city in the world! This included a taxi theme and the NY City skyline.
CZ: What was the biggest challenge you would say you faced when creating clothes out of chocolate?
Martin: Melting!!! Breakage!
Michael: It’s a very temperamental medium so aside from the obvious, my challenge was creating a base structure for Martin to apply the chocolate to that would withstand the weight and provide a layer of insulation between the chocolate and the body to avoid melting. Also, you still want it to resemble wearable fashion.
CZ: Were there any ideas you had that you found just didn’t work on the model?
Martin: Having done the Chocolate Show for many years I had a good idea of what works and doesn’t. Our skyline head piece weighed almost 30 lbs so that was challenging, but she pulled it off!
Michael: I chose to work with a stretch knit fabric to create a portion of the skirt. There was also a chocolate "mermaid" style train. Well, the weight of the chocolate train really weighed down the stretch fabric so much our model could barely walk. She was a trooper and FINALLY made it down the catwalk!
CZ: Looking back, what are your thoughts on the competition? Would you ever give competition like this another chance?
Martin: We gave them the New York City skyline out of chocolate balanced on her head! What else could they want?!?! We might participate again if we had the home court advantage. Traveling out of state with all the supplies is a little challenging.
Michael: With my background in fashion I constructed our entire base structure and garments on the spot—as the rules stated. Some of the others used store-bought garments and simply attached chocolate so we felt like ours stood apart for being a completely ORIGINAL one-of-a-kind piece of Chocolate Fashion!!! I would definitely compete again but I think we would just go all out and kind of ignore some of the "so-called" rules!
