Nov 21, 2006

Fashion designers give restaurants added flavor

By Catherine Nash

The latest restaurant trend has nothing to do with charcuterie, elderberry juice, or salt in every color of the rainbow; right now, it's all about the clothes. Nationwide, more and more restaurateurs and chefs are hiring designers to create custom uniforms for their staff.

In New York, Mario Batali selected Narciso Rodriguez to clothe the employees at Del Posto, while servers at Jean-George Vongerichten's Perry Street sport Calvin Klein duds. At Chicago's Alinea, the waitstaff wears Z. Zegna, the spin-off line from Italian menswear designer Ermenegildo Zegna.

"Twenty years ago, no one in the U.S. was giving much thought to uniforms," said Chuck Kelley, COO of Mina Group, which operates all of San Francisco chef Michael Mina's restaurants. "As restaurants have evolved, there is more emphasis on design."

Anne Le, co-owner of Vietnamese hot spots Tamarine in Palo Alto and Bong Su in San Francisco, concurs. "You spend so much money on architecture and design. It's the natural evolution of a restaurant."

Mina Group has worked with local womenswear designer Dean Hutchinson on uniforms for nearly all of their restaurants, including Arcadia in San Jose. The relationship began when Mina was opening his eponymous restaurant near San Francisco's Union Square.

"Finding someone like Dean was a way to differentiate ourselves," said Kelley. In addition to servers' uniforms, Hutchinson created wool-cashmere suits for the hosts and a chef's jacket for Mina himself.

At Tamarine, the staff is clad all in black. "The restaurant is an art gallery. We didn't want competing design elements," explained Le. But when it came time to open Bong Su this February, she called on Calvin Tran, a Vietnamese-born designer with boutiques in New York and Chicago.

At Le's request, Tran based his designs on the †o dÖi, a traditional Vietnamese long shirt with slit sides that is worn over pants. Hostesses wear diaphanous, copper-hued halter-tops that are nearly backless, while cocktail servers model long, black tunics split up the middle. "I wanted them to be sexy and strong," said Tran.

Servers sport Mandarin-style tuxedo jackets over pants, and all of the pieces have adjustable ties to accommodate a variety of shapes and sizes. "Being able to stock just one size is a tremendous advantage," Le said.

Kelley echoed the need for functionality over fashion. "There have to be pockets," he said, pointing out that servers need space for tools like corkscrews, pens and notebooks.

Durability is another issue. From staining a swatch with butter, red wine and oil, to putting it through the wash fifty times, Kelley requires wear testing on every single fabric before it can be approved. As a result, most of Hutchinson's designs are produced in wool or cotton blends, which wear better.

Hutchinson, who is known for simple lines and beautiful, handcrafted separates, sells dresses for as much as $1,600 at his San Francisco boutique. Though the uniforms he's designed for Mina Group aren't quite that expensive, Kelley estimated they cost as much as 50 percent more than other designs. One of the reasons is the fabric, but much of the cost comes down to details like meticulously finished seams and edges, linings and button tabs.

Even with the added cost, the decision to splurge was a no brainer. "We wanted to create a unique product that was special and spectacular in every way," said Kelley.
He also credits the uniforms with more than just looking pretty. "They make service seem more seamless."