PhoebeDay

ressPack

Concept: To create a PR agency and online press campaign for client, Anya Hindmarch

P

News Release

Online

Anya Hindmarch’s dream launchThe Queen of British heritage, luxury accessories Anya Hindmarch is preparing to launch her most exciting range to date, ‘Made to Measure’.

With the success of the ‘Bespoke’ London collections she has decided to invite her growing list of clients from celebrity fans like Meryl Streep, to the busy working mother who needs her bag to function like Mary Poppins’, to design their own perfectly crafted handbag. It’s now not Anya who decides what a woman needs in a bag, it’s entirely up to you.

Anya’s new venture will be launched on her website, after her London Fashion Week Presentation in September (apply for invitations via Anya’s Facebook, Twitter or Tumblr). Visitors of the show will be given a ‘bespoke’ code to access the brand new and improved ‘Bespoke design room’ and entitle you to a limited discount period, before it goes public a week later. It is here where you will be taken into a virtual workshop, to create your perfect handbag fitted with whatever you desire to make this like nothing anyone will ever see.

From the 25th of September 2012 women with a passion for the luxury things in life can log onto http://www.anyahindmarch.com/BespokePage/madetomeasure and delve into their inner most creative fashionista persona.

This collection embodies everything that Anya loves and is something she has been leading up to for most of her career. Designs that start with your unique ideas, to beautiful craftsmanship and materials that Anya is renowned for, and to those exquisite details that make this bag personal to you. This is not just a bag by any stretch of the imagination; this is a one of a kind product that no other accessory designers offer. It is a handbag that is made to the highest possible standard with classic British crafts. A quality product that will last forever, but more importantly one you will want to use forever.

Anya says ‘These are pieces that you cherish and hand down to your grandchildren and talk about for years to come, Made to measure is about having your name on something rather than mine.’

www.anyahindmarch.com

Press, contact Phoebe at PeekPublicRelations on enquire@peekpr.com or tel. 020 85149511Peek address: 90 Long Acre, Westminster, London, WC2E 9RZ

PPromotions Pack

ressRelease

Are representing Anya Hindmarch in her new

Bespoke ‘Made to Measure’ handbag online launch. Anya is truly established in the luxury accessory world as one of Britain’s best and has spent the last two years perfecting her Bespoke collection.

The collection embodies everything Anya loves starting with great craftsmanship and beautiful materials with that special personal touch. The collection has been extremely successful and the next step for the brand is to offer a bespoke made to measure handbag service to those clients looking for that something extra special and extra personal.

“These are the pieces that you cherish and hand down to your grandchildren and talk about for years to come. Anya Hindmarch Bespoke is about having your name on something rather than mine” Anya Hindmarch

Contact Us:

Telephone: +(44)020 8514 9511Email: enquire@peekpr.comAddress: 90 Long Acre, Westminster,London, WC2E 9RZ

[Twitter: @Peekpr] [Facebook: Peek Public Relations]

Marketing andPR Campaign

Online launch concept for client, Anya Hindmarch

1. Brand Values

Anya Hindmarch is well established in the luxury accessories circle

and is renowned for quality, well crafted, creative and practical designs. She has explored many different paths in her career and has collaborated with a wide range of companies, from Vanity Fair to Barbour.

Anya Hindmarch is in a comfortable position in the market for her to delve into areas that she wants to now, as she has already cemented a strong client following.

This has been something she has wanted to do for around two years. She has started her Bespoke Collection and it has been a great success. It embodies everything that this brand stands for; craftsmanship, beautiful materials, individuality, hidden details, old fashioned touches, personalisation and creativity. Anya now wants to create things that are special and one of a kind, with other people’s names on it, not hers.

This sets her brand aside from her competitors and makes her newest line of the Bespoke collection, ‘Made to Measure’ something that has great potential.

2. Target AudienceThere are stores in seven different countries including flagships in London,

New York and Tokyo, and for a proudly British brand that is impressive. Meaning she has a large international fan base.

She has a large celebrity following:

• Meryl Streep• Kate Moss• Reese Witherspoon• Claudia Schiffer• Angelina Jolie• Kate Middleton• Fearne Cotton• Olivia Palermo• Samantha Cameron

The difference between a clothing brand and accessory brand is that the product can be worn by a vast variety of women. It is the luxury product that appeals to everyone.

Luxury – a key word when defining who wears Anya Hindmarch. The prices range from £250 for a canvas tote to £2000 for a clutch bag, an average of £1000. Anya Hindmarch is for women that have a top end wage packet or celebrities. This is important to note for the launch as we need to market the ‘made to measure’ handbags at women who fully intend to buy the product.

Marketing to:

• 25+ women• Considerable disposable incomes• Interested in luxury products• Interested in craftsmanship• British Heritage• Think a woman that reads Vogue and can purchase the contents

3. ObjectivesThe plan is to catapult the ‘Made to measure’ collection to be as popular as the other handbags on offer.

It will be Anya Hindmarch’s first Spring Summer collection to be shown on the official schedule at London Fashion Week in September, so we must utilise this by making as many people aware of the new collection and generate a buzz around it.

In turn the people that go to the presentation will be rewarded with

exclusive access to the new ‘Made to Measure’ online launch and will also be given a discount code for a limited period.

Unique selling points:

a) Unique product – no other brand is offering the sameb) Exclusivity c) Limited offers – discount always draws people in

4. AimsPeek Public Relations

• Regular contact with LFW organisers. Be up to date with the plans of the presentation and amend guest lists continuously to ensure to correct people are there and in turn the correct people have access to the launch.• Social media sites must be up to date with information on the ‘Made to Measure’ launch. Give people teasers of the event, opportunities to get invitations, details of what is happening as and when it does.• News releases sent out to the target audience. Publications like Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Tatler, the high end magazines both UK and international. Also Grazia, Glamour, InStyle, Red, the mid-range publication that Anya Hindmarch often features in. Newspaper publications, The Sunday Times Style, The Times, The Guardian. All media that the target audience will pay attention too.

• Press packs / invitations sent to the most important clients, which need to be at the LFW presentation, those that will buy the product and further the advertisement of ‘Made to Measure’, celebrities, other PR firms, editors, stylists etc.

Anya Hindmarch

• Anya Hindmarch has various social media outlets, Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook and the website itself. These are our main focus. Their Facebook and Twitter have around 30,000 followers, that specifically want to know what’s happening to the brand and that have the potential to get the launch out there, re-tweeting, liking, re-blogging are all essential for this campaign to work.• In Anya Hindmarch stores there needs to be plenty of advertising, flyers, posters, graphic sale bags, wall mounts for example. In particular the Bespoke store in London. The footfall of customers through the stores, who may talk about a new venture the brand is undertaking is essential.

5. Strategies[Build up as much awareness of the new ‘Made to Measure’ online launch and push the USPs]

• Coverage in afore mentioned publications• Up to date Peek Public Relations social media sites• Up to date Anya Hindmarch social media sites.• Advertisements in appropriate places for target audience, shops, restaurants, bars etc.• London Fashion Week coverage• Mentions on appropriate blogs and websites• Advertisements on Facebook and SEO considerations• Online video interviews with Anya Hindmarch

6. Tactics• Provide all appropriate publications with a news release and/or press pack containing important information on the ‘Made to Measure’ launch. As Anya is in these publications regularly, she may feature in various ‘news’ sections or columns that our target audience will be interested in. This will start the interest into the new collection.

• Both Peek and Anya Hindmarch’s social media outlets can blog, Tweet, Facebook, about the launch, the LFW presentation and how people can apply for invitations. Mentioning the USPs on a regular basis, it will generate a buzz around the launch and will lead to other people in the social media sphere re blogging and talking about the launch. This is the

key strategy for the online launch to be successful.

• All stockists of Anya Hindmarch display posters, wall mounts, and hand out flyers with every purchase this will automatically raise awareness of the launch without the customer having to physically visit a Hindmarch store. This generates more of a buzz around the brand with customers who don’t know much about the brand but may still be interested in the new unique product.

• With the start of the launch being during LFW, other shows and presentations can act as an advertising stage to get the target audience in the know about the new launch. Something as simple as a flyer in all shows’ goody bags outlining the key points of the launch will continue to get the right people talking about ‘Made to Measure’.

• Considerations of SEO: Firstly over the lead up to the launch more people will tweet and Facebook information and thus more and more people will see it on their timelines, and click to find out more information on the Hindmarch direct site.

Once on the site they are directed to a video of Anya talking about the new launch adding a personal touch. Visitors will feel as though she is tell-ing them personally to apply for invites to the presentation and visit the new ‘bespoke design room’.

The traffic through the site, via social media, will increase the awareness. As Anya is already the top of the list on the Google homepage, another tactic would be to pay for adverts on Google or Facebook, that talk specifically about the launch, not just the brand, to ensure worldwide knowledge of the ‘Made to Measure’ collection.

7. Timeline

8. Monitor and MeasureWe need to monitor how popular the launch has been on the online forums.

During the run up to the campaign we will measure the hits on both the Peek social media sites and on Anya Hindmarch’s using ‘Google analytics’. If there is not a steady incline as we approach the launch and the LFW presentation, more people from each company will post on a more regular basis.

Monitoring where we are appearing online, which sites and blogs for example ensuring all posts are generating some online buzz.

After the launch we will monitor the hits the ‘bespoke design room’ has.

The social media coverage will still continue to ensure that there is a constant flow of traffic to the site. As the buzz around the launch wears off, there will be an introduction of more special offers, the 1000th visitor to the site will receive ‘x’ per cent off a product of their choice. Small offers will cement regular custom to the site and ensure the product continues to be successful long after the initial launch.

rendTForecasting

Concept: An online blog predicting menswear Autumn/Winter 2014 trends, taking inspiration from iconic figures of the past.

Classic MafiosoThe final prognosis

Inspired by Al Capone and therefore named ‘Classic Mafioso’ is a trend for the suave gentleman with a penchant for Italian beauty.

Taking our inspiration from Capone himself and the 1930s, with great reference to the celebrity status gangsters of that time.

This trend focuses on bespoke items, with a high regard to craftsmanship. Perfect for the current push on quality not quantity which is set to continue.

To summarise:

Key pieces…

Double-breasted suits: the epitome or classic mafiosoFedoras: no man of the 1930s would have left the house without oneFlat Caps: An alternative to the fedora, for more of a casual lookTo keep the sharpness: Pocket squares, bow ties, ties all add to the trendKey materials…

Suits and waistcoats in:TweedWoolPinstripeKey colours…

Colour co-ordination and classic combinations are what its all about

BlackBrownGreyBlueGreenMore inspiration?

Watch the classic Hollywood gangster films and be sure to watch Cicero. Anything from the 1930s is the key to ‘Classic Mafioso’.

Trend: 1930s GangsterIcon: Al Capone

The Fairy Fellar’s Master StrokeThe final prognosis:

The Freddie Mercury inspired tend, named above after one of Queen’s songs is a trend for the more outrageous style seeker.

Taking most of our inspiration from the 80s, the man himself and his music.

This isn’t a trend that wills you to dress ‘up’ as Mercury, just to channel his style and individuality.

Men are missing a flamboyant character from music and that’s why Mercury is still so iconic. The film will set his style alight once more…we hope!

In a little summary:

Key pieces…

Statement pieces: A Jacket would be the easiest to inject some of the trend into your wardrobeGraphic T-shirts and vests: A favourite in Freddie’s eyes and something that can make a subtle difference, also picking out the sporty style Freddie often ‘rocked’High-waisted trousers: Very 80’s something that takes a little more confidence to pull off.Finally, Aviators: Freddie was rarely pictured without them and they are probably the best accessory for the trend.Key materials…

Denim: Absolute 80s staple. Get yourself some acid wash and you are sorted

Leather: Jackets are the best option for ultimate Mercury.Key colours…

YellowRedOrangeWhiteNeed any more inspiration…?

Look at Queen, the 1980s, album covers, song titles, tour videos, stand out men of today..so many things will grab your attention that will be perfect for ‘The Fairy Fellar’s Master Stroke’

Trend: Outlandish 1980sIcon: Freddie Mercury

Tales Of TheArtisan

Concept: A publication which focuses on all things artisan, in particular food and drink.

AudienceExperience

LouboutinLouboutinlouboutinLouboutinLouboutinLouboutin

Concept: Creating a store launch experience for Christian Louboutin to entice and excite their audience in a multi-sensory way.

The Event:

Louboutin takes architecture seriously in his boutiques so my idea would be to split the store into two halves. The first being, the entrance and the store front/windows will have a very futuristic ‘spaceship’ theme. With lots of aluminium, silver and intricate detailing around the areas to purchase the products as if you were at the helm of a spaceship. The second half would be ‘the red planet’ with the boutiques’ signature red carpet. The concept being, as you walk into the store you’re embarking on a mission to another planet. This is the part of the store where the shoes would be displayed. Some suspended from the ceiling like shooting stars, as one of the main features of the design is the sole. If the shoes are placed on surfaces this trade mark feature will disappear. Others will be placed on rocks, and other space debris around the room. This makes the room multi-dimensional. The customer will have to interact with the display to choose the product that is best for them.

As my idea is for an opening event, the launch has to set the brand above its competitors. This is where the multi-sensory idea comes in. Right from the beginning the guest will be sent invitations to match the theme, ‘Countdown to Launch’, you are invited to ‘boldly go where no man has ever gone before’ to another of ‘Loubi’s starship enterprises’. This gives the customer a real sense of the occasion before they arrive.

On the evening of the event (time of day relevant to the space theme) the guests will, after having received a countdown to ‘lift off’, be greeted by ‘Captain Loubi’ and his ‘commanders’ Gareth Thomas and Mika to open the store. The guests will then be escorted inside by women dressed as ‘seductive’ astronauts and served a ‘moon rock’ filled with popping candy also known as ‘space dust’, just as a small taster before a selection of space themed cocktails; ‘The Moonwalk’, which was created by a bar tender for Neil Armstrong when he returned from the Apollo 11 mission, ‘Jet Fuel’ with a melon liqueur to make it green, as well as ‘Astronaut’ and ‘Blue Moon’.

The rooms will be pumped with the aroma of gunpowder and engines. Not a particularly nice smell, but when astronauts in the past have been asked what space smells like, many have said things like, gunpowder, engines, electrical equipment and the ‘odour of ozone’. Just a slight aroma would further enhance the feeling of being in space.The two rooms will have different atmospheres. In the spaceship room, the surfaces will be hard and shiny, with a mainly functional feel, just as a

spaceship would be. The lighting will be strong strobe artificial lights, almost too bright for the eyes. The temperature in this room will be cold. Cold enough for the temperature to register with the guests and spark up a feeling in their conscious mind. However to make it too cold could make the guests uncomfortable. As background noise, (not too loud) communications to the NASA headquarters will be played into room, just to give the impression of being in a spaceship. “Houston we have a problem”

To mark the contrast between the two rooms, the ‘red planet’ room with be the total opposite. The surfaces will be rough, with rocks, craters, pieces of old metal and other debris, although there may be some issues with health and safety, this further makes people believe they’re having an ‘other-worldly’ experience, having to pay attention to their path around the room and look for the products, an interactive experience.

The lighting will be dull, with one main light source, mimicking the light of the sun. the ceiling with be dark but with tiny LED lights dotted around to look like stars, with suspended shoes of varying lengths, spot lit to show off every aspect of the design. To highlight the difference further, this room will be hotter, with almost a dry desert like atmosphere, as you would expect Mars to be but not too hot to make it unbearable. The aroma of burnt matches and dirt will be pumped in, as well as this being an appropriate smell for the context the main client is men. These are, in a way, masculine smells so will appeal to the customer in every sense. To replicate the sound of space is somewhat impossible as space is a giant vacuum, there is no noise.

But if you think of space you imagine it to be quite eerie, with long spells of quiet but many onomatopoeic words spring to mind, ‘whooshing’, ‘banging’, ‘rumbling’, so the noise in the room will be as eerie as possible with the occasional crash or bang.

However there is an issue with getting the customers to keep on coming back to the store after the launch night excitement dies down. My intentions would be to keep the store relatively similar to the launch night, with the two different areas being the spaceship and the red planet, although changes would be made to make the environment more accessible for everyday use. The spaceship would stay pretty much the same but without most of

the sensory elements. A feature that would add something different to an everyday store environment would be the way the shoes are delivered to the shop floor. Rather than a member of staff going into a warehouse of some kind, they would key in the shoe code into a pneumatic air conveying system, and then the shoes would shoot up, keeping the high-tech, sci-fi, theme even after the launch.

And in true Louboutin style, adding something extra to the shopping experience.The Red planet area would also be kept similar, again removing most of the sensory elements, like the hot temperature, dark lighting and rocky floor. Instead the floor would be the signature red carpet, but the shoes would still be displayed in the alternative ways so the customer still has to interact with the store.

The staff would be asked to still wear ‘space’ style uniforms but rather than the astronaut style costumes they could possibly wear a selection of Gareth Pugh’s Spring/Summer 2012 collection. The collection is very futuristic, with cages and metallic ‘alien’ pieces which would be space like, yet wearable and high fashion to fit with the brand’s image.

The whole experience will encourage people to believe they are entering the shop and going into space. Schmitt believes that ‘customers are seen simply as rational decision makers who trade off functional features and benefits in their minds, when in fact they frequently engage in emotion intuition and impulse driven purchases.’ I want the experience of my launch and then the store afterwards to make the customers interact with the environment, and tune into their emotions, forget their rationale and simply enjoy their time in the store, want to return and ultimately want to continue purchasing the shoes.

[Images sourced from http://eu.christianlouboutin.com/uk_en/ 2011 - 2013]

SpaceCreation

Concept: Rebrand and refresh Graduate Fashion Week

Exhibition Space:GFW will be relocated to Leadenhall Market, London, with a strong influence of our British heritage and tradition.

Still Show

Catwalk

Promotional Material:Sticking with tradition, the promotional aspects of GFW include, postcards, telegram invites, and Union Jack themed graphics.

Exhibition Invite

Gala Show Ticket

Publication

Concept: Create a ‘dinner table’ book surrounding food, food memories and all round nostalgia.

Research Food Fashion//

“Food is the new sex, drugs and religion. Cookery dom-inates the bestseller lists and TV schedules. Celebrity chefs become lifestyle gurus and cooking is referred to as a high art. Steven Poole has had his fill of foodism; Get Stuffed.” ‘The Guardian’

Food is no longer viewed as simply ‘food’. If anything the last word that would come to the mind of a foodie critic today would be nourishment. Food has saturated many areas of the media and people’s lives in recent years, much more than 10 years ago when food programmes, celebrity chefs and Michelin starred restaurants were few and far between, only the true Foodie’s would be interested.

Now according to Steven Poole; ‘Foodie’ has pretty much everywhere replaced ‘gourmet’ losing its snobbish connotations and being something people take pride in being.’

Food and everything to do with food has become fashionable. Poole quotes ‘modern food knight’ Michael Pollan who outlines an ideology of ‘foodism’ as “a yearning for food to be able to fill a spiritual void, food is about spirituality and expressing our identity” an ideology not too dissimilar to that of fashion.

It is this strange comparison to these areas that has drawn me into to researching each aspect of this supposed ‘gastroculture’ we’re going through. Fashion is about new trends and style icons. Now we have food trends and chef icons to contend with, and in some cases the two areas are blurring. Nigella Lawson for example her book ‘Nigellissima’ was one of the ten bestselling books on Amazon in September 2012. In December 2012 five of the top ten books on Amazon’s Bestseller list were food books.

Food has experienced a rapid inflation and this is why research into the major areas it has infiltrated would

The Rise Of The Foodie

provide an interesting stepping stone to create a final project combining the best parts.

Food has become more than just food, to many people it’s a way of life;

“My 20th birthday party was all about booze, my 30th was all about drugs, and now I realise that my 40s are about food.” Alex James the Blur Bassist/ Cheese Farmer

Alex James also said that ‘food becomes not only spiritual nourishment but art, sex, ecology, history, fashion and ethics. It even becomes…a universal language. Food is a brilliant way to connect with everyone. I used to think music was a universal language. But if you go to Africa and play a Blur song, someone will have to translate. Give them cheese though and they can instantly taste it and react.”It is the universal appeal of food and the way it makes people feel that is most intriguing. How has the rise of the foodie affected what we do and how we do it?

Throughout all areas of the topic much of the main focuses surround how the food makes people feel, the atmosphere they ate it in, who it was that cooked it, and the memories it conjured up. It is the experience and how food appeals to all the senses which are most intriguing about how we view food now, how the ‘gastroculture’ has changed food from just being purely nourishment, to being important, considering all aspects of the eating experience.

In recent years, Heston Blumenthal has utilised the fact that people are enjoying the experience of food more and more. His restaurant ‘The Fat Duck’ encompasses what it is to fully experience a dish. It is a multi-sensory experience for the diner, including sounds and smell all of which will enhance a particular meal. Blumenthal is another celebrity chef who has gained success with the rise of the foodie culture. It is this experiential dining that is most fascinating in the new food culture, as mentioned before, people are not purely interested in food as nourishment anymore, they want a fully rounded experience one of which they can talk about and re-live long after is has ended. Dining experiences need to be enhanced in fresh new ways to guarantee the success of restaurants.

‘Give me the place, the story, the people who make the food. Give me the experience of the food and the enjoyment. Make my eating experiential.’ John McKenna

Something that Blumenthal does do more than any other chef on the market is draw on people’s memories of food, in particular childhood memories. Food memories was a trend for 2012 picked out by Christine Couvellier but this research has highlighted that when people are asked to talk about food, it is more often than not that they will talk about their fondest memories of food and where it was they ate it, this has always been the case not just for 2012. The food one eats can be either worsened or enhanced by the memories associated with it.

Food: The Experience andThe Senses

Chef Morgan Meunier chose to take the theme of memories and apply it to his own tasting menu. Meunier grew up in the Champagne region of France and recalls his childhood eating experiences as ‘magical’ however when he came to London in the 90s the majority of his customers had ‘traumatic’ memories of school dinners.

So Meunier is attempting to change childhood memories and bring change to the dishes many people would never touch. To change someone’s memory and expectations of food is ambitious yet Meunier is still keying into the fact that food memories are popular, whether good or bad, it is the experience they enjoy.It is the experience and memories of food that has made up the focus for primary research. A question in a series of interviews conducted was ‘what is your fondest food memory?’ 90 per cent of the interviewees recalled a memory of either their childhood or one with their families. It is clear that food plays a pivotal part in special occasions and times that are memorable.

Similar in some cases to fashion, in people’s memories they recall what they wore, what they ate and whom they were with; a point that joins food and fashion together again.

Another question asked was ‘what reminds you of home?’ in this case it was not the answers as such that were interesting but the actual asking and the buzz the question generated. It was seeing how people react and

One cannotthink well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.Virginia Woolf

become animated when prompted to talk about their early memories of food, it encourages them to think of the things they love and this in turn elicits a response that shows how much food means to people and just how much of a lead role it plays in people’s memories.

‘Dining with one’s friends and beloved family is certainly one of life’s primal and most innocent delights, one that is both soul satisfying and eternal.’ Julia Childs

Experiential events have also been up and coming in the fashion world over recent years. Not just in fashion but experiential theatre for example has been drawing people in. It is something a little different to the norm that people are always interested in. Consumers always want something original that not many people have, something which tells a story and something they will have a memory of. It is these things that allow experiential events to come to the forefront of marketing and stimulate consumers in a vast spectrum of the market.

Foodcomfort food yum Memories

Nostalgia spice Childhood

Cuisine Experiences Northern Rustic Stories Goodies emotion Photography

Sharing Foodie’s Delight Snacks Family Recipes with a Twist Smells Occasions

Gastronomy Chefs Home Cooking Reminiscence Inspiring Scran Taste

Dinner Table Book Gourmet

he influxes of the ‘foodie’ has seen this new ‘gastroculture’ infiltrate our lives, be it television, the books we read, or where we shop, there is no escaping the rise of the foodie.

With this rise, it is clear to see that this is a successful market to key into. Through research, it has been found that Nigella Lawson’s book was outselling 50 Shades of Grey on Amazon in September of last year and Jamie Oliver is the second most successful author in the UK, on Amazon charts coming second only to JK Rowling. Food books are, it seems practically recession proof. People are still buying into the food world just as people are still buying into fashion.

Much like the fashion industry we see the development of trends within the food sphere. From things on the plate; the expertly swished ‘smear’, edible flowers, a neat little quenelle and the theatrical use of liquid nitrogen, something we see used over and over by chefs of the moment. To things off the plate, take Heston Blumenthal as the prime example, whose experiential style of cooking once stood alone amongst his chef peers and now it seems to be inspiring others to incorporate a multi-sensory experience to their cooking.

One trend in particular that has immerged over the past few months and is set to continue, is food memories and nostalgia. The immense popularity of shows like ‘The Great British Bake Off ’ has sparked a trend for us to think back to the things we loved as children and the experiences we remember so fondly, with food being an integral part. Chefs and home cooks alike are trying to recreate those memories from the basics like baking a cake, to an all senses experience.

A recent example of a multisensory nostalgic approach would be from the television show ‘Great British Menu’, a Michelin starred chef created a menu for a banquet that was solely inspired by the memories he had as a child and his ‘nana’. His memory filled menu consisted of a picnic, fish and chips at the beach, a good Sunday roast, and nans apple pie. He managed to turn things we all are accustomed to enjoying into a gastronomic delight.

It is this trend that has inspired the production of a new era of recipe book. It is evident that people are still purchasing recipe books and now more than ever, with the willing to actually cook some of the contents. Times have passed where one would by a cook book and just throw it aside never to be read again. The home cook foodie is rife.It is this that shows scope for a new type of recipe book, one that you would buy, read, and enjoy time and time again. Much more than just a recipe on a page with ingredients and step by steps, the book would pay attention to the fond memories people have, giving a story to the recipe, bringing the recipe to life. A recipe that would make people think back to a certain time in their lives or at least understand how special a simple recipe can be to someone.

T

One may describe ‘The Way We Ate’ as a ‘dinner table book’, a refreshed take on ‘coffee table books’. With contents being diversified adding photo shoots, to give it that editorial edge and introduce another dimension to the food, and to give the recipes a narrative.

Profiles of original Northern characters will feature in the book, showcasing their favourite childhood memories of food and their particular favourite recipe, they believe needs to be shared with the world. Asking people to talk about their food memories evokes a number of feelings and recollections of smells, tastes, senile grandparents, domestic goddesses and incredible or not so incredible food.

It is these nostalgic stories that the book will capture, giving the reader an insight into a variety of foodies’ fondest gastro memories.Inspired by Nigel Slater’s Toast, the book will also contain short stories on everyone’s favourite childhood recipes, be it from school dinners, your local sweet shop or your nans sherry trifle, there will be a story that everyone can relate to.

It is this essence that will stand this book apart from other recipe books on the market. It will be a book to cherish and want to share, to keep on your dinner table and read over and over again, for enjoyment and not just to flick though for a quick recipe idea. A collection of fabulous food photography and emotive food stories from a range of fabulous people, it’s a book for both devout foodies and people who just like a bit of good northern ‘scran’ alike.

ToBe Continued

Phoebe DayEmail: phoebeday@live.co.ukTelephone: +44 (0) 7748884256Twitter: @PhoebeDay