THE JOURNAL
Dominic Sessa and Leo Woodall in “Tony” (2026). Photograph by Seacia Pavao
“I was inspired by chefs for cooking, maybe not the looks,” says Santiago Lastra, the chef and co-owner at the Michelin-starred Mexican restaurant KOL in London’s Marylebone. “It’s quite recent that chefs are really starting to dress well. It’s not been a priority for a long time. I know there is a chef style: this white T-shirt and some sort of denim trousers, like Anthony Bourdain, but I wasn’t looking up to that when I was a kid.”
You could argue that the cooking profession as style inspiration was bubbling up even before GQ declared, in 2022, that “actually, The Bear is a menswear show”. True, Jeremy Allen White’s Carmy has put his weight behind the white T-shirt – plus, the oven full of vintage denim and that NN07 patchwork jacket. But even before, many men were already cosplaying as chefs, whether they knew it or not. From the ink to the Birkenstock Bostons and the utilitarian trousers. The ingredients were already there, The Bear just turned up the heat.
“The thing The Bear gets right is that the pressure never really switches off,” says Luke Ahearne, the chef behind Motorino in London’s Fitzrovia, who previously garnered a Michelin star at Lita. “Like any television show, it’s heightened for drama, but it captures the emotional reality of kitchen work better than most depictions I’ve seen. The energy feels very accurate. The intensity, the obsession, the personalities – you recognise all of that.”
As the final season of the show arrives, and with A24’s Anthony Bourdain biopic due later this summer, the chef is under the spotlight once again. Bourdain – who died in 2018 – did more than most to lift the lid on life in the kitchen. His 2000 memoir Kitchen Confidential offered his behind-the-scenes account of the industry. The upcoming film, Tony, stars Dominic Sessa as a young Bourdain and uses the opening chapters of his book as a springboard.
Bourdain “made people interested not just in what chefs cooked, but in how they lived, travelled and presented themselves,” Ahearne says. “He helped make the chef a cultural figure rather than simply someone hidden behind a kitchen door.”
“Anthony Bourdain was a handsome, charming man who lifted other people up, often finding common ground between disparate cultures,” Derek Guy (@die_workwear) says of the celebrity chef, who also presented the travelogue documentary series Parts Unknown. “The Bear is also just a good show and Jeremy Allen White is a handsome, talented and convincing actor. I don’t think you can separate this stuff from the value of those cultural moments, not unlike how Mad Men made men want to wear suits again,” he continues. “There’s an overarching trajectory to history that allows for these moments to happen, but also certain kinds of cultural moments that take advantage of that fertile soil.”
Jeremy Allen White as Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto in “The Bear”. Photograph by Chuck Hodes/FX
“The discovery of chef style is in line with a wider return to workwear in menswear and a fascination with the clothing worn by people who do very analogue jobs in an AI era,” says Lauren Cochrane, senior fashion writer for The Guardian and author of The Ten: The Stories Behind The Fashion Classics. “Add the sauce stain and it’s got added authenticity – a quality we’re striving for in clothing at the moment.”
“People are drawn to authenticity,” Ahearne agrees. “A chef’s jacket with years of wear tells a story in the same way a faded chore coat or a pair of beaten-up work trousers does. The appeal isn’t really the stain itself – it’s what the stain represents. It suggests the garment has actually been used for its intended purpose.”
“As our economies have shifted from industrial to post-industrial, and millions of people do what are sometimes disparagingly described as ‘email jobs’, there’s a certain romance around manual labour,” Guy says. “Many people are disconnected from the process of making physical things, whether that’s a car or even a dish. There’s a romance around being someone who can still make something with their hands.”
“What chefs wear is essentially a uniform or workwear, and that is a backbone of menswear,” Cochrane says. “Very simple and graphic. Whites, clogs, loose trousers. So, easy to imagine outside of the kitchen.”
But the connection between the modern chef and menswear perhaps runs deeper. “A tasting menu is like a fashion collection,” Lastra says. For one thing, both are seasonal, he notes. “In the summer, people want to have a lighter meal. In the winter, they want more layers. The colour palette of the ingredients you’re cooking will be very different. The colours will be more muted in the winter and brighter in summer.”
“As someone who spends far too much time thinking about clothes, I’ve always felt there are similarities between a great meal and a great garment,” Ahearne says. “Both are built on craftsmanship and hundreds of small decisions that most people never notice. Whether it’s the stitching on a jacket or the seasoning in a sauce, you’re chasing the same thing: getting the details right.
“Attention to detail is one of the foundations of being a chef”
“Attention to detail is one of the foundations of being a chef,” Ahearne adds. “You can have creativity and ambition, but if you can’t consistently execute the basics, you’re going to struggle. Menswear enthusiasts often have that same mindset. They notice the fabric, the cut, the way something ages over time. That’s very similar to how chefs think about ingredients and technique.”
Ahearne thinks there have always been chefs who had swag. Marco Pierre White “had an effortless rock-star quality that changed how people viewed chefs and how chefs presented themselves,” he says. “Today, people like Massimo Bottura and Daniel Humm dress with the same confidence and restraint you see in their restaurants. They understand how personal style can complement their work without overshadowing it.”
When it comes to the costume, The Bear “gets the balance right”, Ahearne says. “Kitchen staff often care more about clothes than people realise. They spend all day in uniforms, so what they wear outside work can become a form of self-expression.”
Carmy’s wardrobe “feels believable”, he says. “The plain white tees, work jackets and simple tailoring don’t look styled for the camera. They look like clothes someone genuinely wears. That’s probably why they’ve resonated with so many people.”
The T-shirt worn by Carmy is “a kind of modern take on Brando”, according to Cochrane. But it is also a nod to what came before it – the chef’s whites. Dating back to the 19th century, chef’s whites were introduced as a means of protection from things like hot oil, Lastra says. “Kitchens were quite dangerous. It was almost like a soldier’s uniform.”
As the technology in the kitchen has changed, so have the clothes. “You don’t need to protect yourself anymore, you know?” Lastra says. “So, there is an opportunity to move away from the classic chef whites.”
T-shirts are becoming increasingly commonplace as a replacement, Lastra notes. The tees worn at KOL are designed for the restaurant in Denmark. “It’s not just a random T-shirt, this is a high-quality T-shirt that we custom made with this brand from Copenhagen. We customised our colour as well.” They come in a terracotta orange tone that “represents the clay of Mexico”.
True to form, Lastra says he wears Birkenstock mules at work. “They’re so comfortable,” he says. “You’ve got to be used to them.”
That wearability is also a big factor behind the rise of chef-style pants beyond the kitchen. “Most workwear trends start with people borrowing clothes from specialist professions,” Ahearne says. “If someone finds chef trousers comfortable and useful, that’s exactly what they were designed to be.”
“I think they could stick around,” Cochrane says. “Mainly because they are comfortable and work on the combat pant/carpenter trouser axis, so they’re easy to integrate into the wardrobe. They look good with something of similar proportion up top, so relatively loose, and maybe a brogue or a sandal.”
“The key is keeping everything else simple,” Ahearne says. “Chef trousers already have a lot of character. I’d wear them with a heavyweight white T-shirt, a simple overshirt or chore jacket and clean sneakers. The mistake is trying too hard. They’re work trousers. The best outfits keep that practical spirit intact.”