I can see some of you rolling your eyes. Food and fashion, some of you quip, aren’t they two enemies? One would believe so with celebrities and models constantly on diet. From personal experience, working behind the scenes with a catering company for Paris fashion shows, some of the stereotypes are so true. It used to madden me and my peers, preparing and cooking gorgeous food items for hours, only for the models to walk past with their cigarettes and mugs of coffee or flutes of champagne and stare at the food; some with disdain, others with guilty longing. The upside for me was that the food that wasn’t consumed was split amongst us and taken home to be shared with friends who would appreciate what we had slaved over. I also have fashionista friends who are fabulous cooks and blow convention away, so don’t believe the hype that all fashion lovers don’t eat. Many are serious foodies. Carmela Richards of Indigo boutique, for example, makes a mean oxtail and rolls her own sushi.

In honour of Fashion’s Night Out (FNO), I’ve turned to my friends, both here and abroad, who are fashionistas, to speak to them about food and fashion. Locally, I spoke to the fabulous Kerry-Ann Clarke of kerry manwomanhome, a participant in FNO, and fashion designer Ali Lue, such a great local talent who is fresh from overseas. Up North, in New York City, I picked the brains of fellow writer Kaci Hamilton, and across the pond in London, spoke to Leigh Odimah, designer, editor and creator of Style Canteen, recently named as one of the 10 top fashion blogs in the UK, and Chantal Miller, beauty editor of Style Canteen who also works in fashion and media PR. Both are busy preparing for London Fashion Week. To each of them, I posed the same questions: Why are you a foodie? What is your favourite dish? How do you keep fit, fashionable and eat well at the same time? What does FNO mean to you?

Here’s what they had to say!

Kerry: I’m a foodie because flavours, tastes and the creativity is what gets me. Presentation is important because food CAN look sexy. It’s difficult to say my fave dish because I love food. Japanese (sushi), Italian (linguine con le vongole), French (entrecote), and Jamaican (Scotchies). In terms of fitness, I agree with Kate Moss: “Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.” My mantra for FNO: “The style will last, the selection won’t.” Fashion’s Night Out is a great shopping experience; fabulous pieces at fabulous prices while sipping cocktails. What more can you ask for!

Ali: LOVING and ENJOYING well prepared delicious food makes me a foodie. My favourite dish is penne with fresh tomato, garlic, basil, and mozzarella drizzled with extra virgin olive oil. To keep fit I do simple exercise daily, to keep fashionable I wear clothes which make me feel fabulous and I eat in moderation to keep healthy. Fashion’s Night Out is a time to enjoy what I love…FASHION!

Kaci: Food is love. When you cook for someone, or someone cooks for you, it is an act of nourishment; in other words, an act of love. I’ve had so many great experiences over food, because I’m usually with people I love so I feel wholly nourished. If a guy wants to cook for me, I’m in heaven! After being a vegetarian for 10 years, I’m now back to eating meat (I know!) and I’ve been on pork like it’s going out of style. Bacon, pork chops, ribs…I’m now going through a glazed ribs phase! I go to the gym, run and opt for veggies and salad whenever I can. I also do the South Beach Diet twice a year. FNO for me means celebrating beauty, individuality and personal style.

Chantal: I am a foodie because, quite simply, I LOVE food. I am fascinated by the never-ending stream of new textures and flavours that are just waiting to be discovered. I do find that my food repertoire is quite small, so am always open to being shown new ways to enjoy my pescatarian lifestyle. I also grew up surrounded by chefs in my family so have fostered an appreciation for good food from quite a young age. My penchant for cupcakes also knows no bounds! My favourite dish, well, that’s a toughie. It’s a toss-up between MY (yes, MY) JuicyChef Brown Rice dish created for ME by the JuicyChef while she lived in London and my Mum’s candied sweet potatoes. My Mum uses a mixture of orange sauce, molasses, real country churned butter, cinnamon sticks, nutmeg and a few other ingredients which she will not share with me. Somehow though, the dish is not overly sweet. Being strong and healthy is my focus. I love feeling vibrant. For me, it’s all about getting outside. I live in London so I work my exercise in my daily commute to and from my work assignments. I also recently signed up to the Bicycle Hire Scheme and am loving discovering new ways of getting to old haunts. I started yoga in earnest last year and have taken the plunge and enrolled in ballet classes.

Fashion generally celebrates and seems sometimes to be created specifically for women with little or no curves, this is not me! So I find trends and classics that work for my body shape. I have no intention of starving myself to fit into anything. That is such an unhealthy attitude towards life to try and “fit in”. Fashion is to be enjoyed; fashion is about experimenting and finding what works for you. FNO, for me, makes fashion more accessible. Also, FNO forces retailers to be more innovative in their approach to getting customers “through the door”. More creative shopping incentives mean that the customers are more likely to indulge and enjoy the shopping experience.

Leigh: I’ve always been a foodie because I’m a Taurean with a ravenous appetite and the “I love good food” gene. I pretty much eat anything except licorice, marmite, cockles and winkles! I have a huge sweet tooth — chocolate chip cookies, colour icing on vanilla butter sponge cupcakes. My all-time favourite dish is a simple apple crumble made with sweet Bramley cooking apples cooked in cinnamon. Butter (no margarine spread) crumble is slightly dark brown, making it a little crunchy. Lots of crumble, easy on the apple, served piping hot with room temperature vanilla custard… oooh, and I love fried plantains! I run for 30 minutes three times a week. I always wear black gear and bright-coloured running shoes. I have a pair of bright blue and orange New Balance shoes with crisp white laces. It’s totally irrational and impractical, but they are not allowed to get dirty and neither are the laces. Sorry to say, I don’t eat particularly well at all. Too often I overindulge and pull it in when I’ve overdone it. Having said that, I only eat freshly cooked food, fruit and vegetables. Very rarely will I eat take-aways or pre-prepared meals.

Fashion’s Night Out means to me luxury labels, in other words, labels I cannot afford! This year in London, Selfridges is top of my FNO list. I’ve fallen in ENVY with the Burberry Shearling Aviator Jacket collection. It’s not often I get girly and silly about fashion, but if I could I would have bought one right off the catwalk. I’ll also be visiting Louis Vuitton, Dover Street Market, Harvey Nichols and Browns. All with the intention to get seriously caught up in the shopping buzz!

Thanks, ladies! It was good hearing food and fashion thoughts straight from women who partake daily in the fashion industry. Let’s be real, we all want to look our best. Fashion can be both a blessing and pressuring, at times. It’s wonderful because it can make us feel great when we wear something that fits us perfectly and puts us in a good mood because it makes us confident and we receive compliments in return. On the flip side, because of fashion, many women struggle with body image and feel unworthy because they don’t look like models. Eating disorders are on the rise, as a result. Fortunately, there has been a backlash and now fuller-figured models are just as appreciated as their slimmer or skinny counterparts. The average size of a woman in the UK is a size 14, in the USA a size 16…not size 0 or 2. Beauty is democratic and comes in all forms. I wish I knew the statistic for the average size of the Jamaican woman. I totally believe in being fit and healthy, and you can look good and eat well at the same time regardless of your height, or shape.

Weight, on the other hand, can get dangerous past a certain category depending on your height, bone density and other factors. Thankfully in Jamaica, most men here appreciate curvy women from “mawga” to “mampie”. To be frank, I find the harshest critics of women to be other women. Most people here also have a positive attitude to food. The Jamaica Observer’s celebration of Fashion’s Night Out 2010, which takes place tomorrow night, will have something for everyone. This week, my food photos feature dishes the ladies above enjoy: cupcakes, linguine con le vongole, and glazed guava jerk pork chops.

Food items for this column are provided by MegaMart, so a warm thanks to them, as always.

Bon Appétit, and enjoy a wonderful experience at Fashion’s Night Out 2010!!