MILAN — The style and food industries are getting increasingly closer, because the holy grail of experience has been increasingly top of mind for brands and retailers.

On Thursday evening, the “Food and Fashion” event, organized by Galateo & Friends, consulting firm The Style Gate and Forbes on the Principe di Savoia Hotel in Milan, contributed to further underscore the message that the 2 industries share common strategies and goals. And the way sometimes, it’s really easy to seal the union.   

Living proof, three-Michelin-star chef Massimo Bottura, a childhood friend of Gucci president and chief executive officer Marco Bizzarri, reminisced on how the Osteria da Massimo Bottura, the Italian house’s culinary endeavor, landed on the brand’s Rodeo Drive store.

“I walked up on this amazing terrace, overlooking Los Angeles, and I believed this needed to be a restaurant, it just needed to,” said Bottura in his signature enthusiastic manner. After a fast conversation with Bizzarri, not much convincing was needed and all of the crucial changes were made to the blueprint of the constructing. The situation, as much because the food, becomes central to the experience, he mused.

The Osteria is situated on the rooftop of the Beverly Hills flagship — which recently expanded to greater than 12,000 square feet with the addition of a men’s store and sweetness area — marking the primary time Bottura and Gucci brought their cuisine to the U.S.

There at the moment are 4 Osteria outposts, essentially the most recent unveiled in Seoul, following the primary on the Gucci Garden in Florence, one in Tokyo on the fourth level of the Gucci Namiki constructing in Ginza, and the Los Angeles unit.

Tiziana Fausti, who has acquired the ten Corso Como concept store in Milan, praised founder Carla Sozzani’s pioneering initiative to open a restaurant in the situation.

“It’s a really weighty legacy,” she admitted, “but this can be a magic place, which continues to draw tourists and the Milanese alike,” said Fausti. “10 Corso Como is linked to good taste, culture and art, I haven’t any intention of overhauling it, I just need to add some modernity, for instance to its e-store.”

As reported, Sozzani is now dedicated full-time to her art gallery in 10 Corso Como.

Understanding how food would increasingly turn into a cornerstone of retail, Sozzani, for instance, rolled out a food line with Galateo & Friends after launching a luxury oil and vinegar combo in 2010 at Maison & Objet in Paris, introducing chocolate and honey. The 2 partnered again for an additional set for Christmas last 12 months. 

Galateo & Friends, an organization founded by entrepreneur Marco Bonaldo in 2002 in Arma di Taggia, Liguria, the heartland of the Taggiasca extra virgin olive oil production, has long found a link with fashion. Along with Sozzani, designers Antonio Marras, Mary Katrantzou and Coveri are only among the “friends” which have personalized his collectible bottles. Bonaldo’s gastronomic range is on the market at Michelin-starred restaurants globally, from Alain Ducasse to Bottura, Daniel Humm’s Eleven Madison Park to Beck’s Pergola, and at Palazzo Versace and the Armani and Bulgari hotels.

Alessandro Maria Ferreri, owner and CEO Of The Style Gate, said consumers today are in search of to satisfy greater than the sense of touch and sight.

“Anyone will let you know that a mall and not using a food and beverage area simply doesn’t work,” said Ferreri. “And there’s a way of conviviality that’s linked to food, intrinsically connected to shopping.” Ferreri spoke of his consultancy work within the recent acquisition of the Antonio Marras brand by the Calzedonia group, which in itself is mixing food and fashion because it also controls the Signorvino wine shops and restaurants.

Livio Proli, CEO of Missoni, introduced the topic of sustainability, which is equally essential in food and fashion, he said, aiming to assist right the wrongs and “the destruction of the environment” inflicted by humankind. On this, he said he’s driven by the longstanding ethical values he has found at the style brand and still upheld by Rosita Missoni, founder along with her late husband Ottavio. Missoni just staged its first womenswear fashion show by newly appointed creative director Filippo Grazioli during Milan Fashion Week.