Prada's latest trend: couture collaborates with cuisine

Film set: the Wes Anderson-designed Bar Luce in Milan (AFP)

Miuccia Prada certainly has an eye for a trend. But confections of a different kind feature in the display cases at her latest venture, a new branch of one of Milan’s most historic pasticcerias, Marchesi (00 39 02 7600 8238; pasticceriamarchesi.it). Prada now owns three quarters of the business, which has been serving sweet-toothed Milanese since 1824. The interior is every bit as covetable as one of her dresses with soft, emerald green velvet chairs, chocolate-coloured marble floors and green jacquard wallpaper that you would almost want to wear.

Equally impressive is Bar Luce, the bar and café of the Fondazione Prada (00 39 2 5666 2611; fondazioneprada.org), which also opened in Milan earlier this year and was designed by film director Wes Anderson. But this is both a destination and a work of art in itself, created to evoke the spirit of Milanese films of the 1950s and 1960s.

Signora Prada is just one of a growing number of designers extending their reach from couture to cuisine. Ceresio 7 (00 39 02 310 392 21; ceresio7.com) is the restaurant offshoot of hip Milanese label DSquared2. Set on the rooftop of the label’s headquarters, it’s a slick space with an Italian menu and two outdoor pools.

Back at street level, the Dolce & Gabbana Martini Bistrot (00 39 02 760 11154; dolceandgabbana.com) is a sultry space on one of the city’s upmarket shopping thoroughfares, the Corso Venezia.

But Milan is not the only place where fashion and food meet. Already with two successful restaurants in Chicago and the chic St-Germain area of Paris, designer Ralph Lauren’s The Polo Bar (001 212 207 8562; ralphlauren.com) opened earlier this year next door to the Polo Ralph Lauren flagship on New York’s ritzy Upper East Side. Tables are hard to come by, with the fashion crowd and perfectly groomed locals clamouring to experience its clubby atmosphere and classic menu.

Given Asia’s obsession with luxury brands, it’s no wonder that Gucci chose Shanghai for its first foray into the food world, with the opening of 1921 Gucci Café (00 86 21 335 63525; gucci.com) in July in the city’s IAPM Mall. Its name commemorates the year the label was founded in Florence, and everything oozes signature Gucci style.

Gallic star chef Alain Ducasse was tasked with channeling the spirit of Coco Chanel on to a plate at the Beige restaurant (00 81 3 5159 5500; beige-tokyo.com) on the rooftop of its glossy, flagship store in Tokyo’s Ginza district. There is an al fresco “Le Jardin du Tweed” garden open during the summer, but more importantly, the French inspired food is treated with Japanese sensibility by chef Kei Kojima.