Bon Appétit & Banana Republic Team Up For Clothing Line: Desk to Dinner

The very fashionable people at Bon Appétit is collaborating with clothing retailer Banana Republic and reservation service OpenTable on the Desk to Dinner apparel collection, which launches next week. The idea, you see, is that the clothes are things you can wear at the office and out to dinner. A rep for OpenTable tells the New York Times the line reflects the "emerging trend" of the "foodie lifestyle."

Bon Appétit editor-in-chief Adam Rapoport has a fashion background — he worked for GQ for ten years — and has told Eater he's intrigued by collaborations between the food and fashion world. (Do note the Rapoport-esque ensemble on the gentleman in the ad.) This isn't entirely new territory for the magazine: it did a series of events called Feast or Fashion for New York Fashion Week in September, and a pop-up Bon Appétit Cafe for Fashion Week the year before.

OpenTable will feature the line on their blog alongside Bon Appétit-generated content like restaurant reviews. Perhaps there will be restaurant-specific fashion advice? Here's what one wears to to a restaurant like the French Laundry; here is what one wears to a restaurant like Mission Chinese.

This is not the first time a fashion line has collaborated with the food world. See also: shoes from Marcus Samuelsson, Chris Cosentino, and Aaron Sanchez; Brooklyn's Marlow & Sons has made bags; Southern designer Billy Reid sells a John T. shirt named after Southern Foodways Alliance director John T. Edge; Uniqlo has partnered with a variety of restaurants; and of course David Chang did a Vogue fashion spread in 2010.

Cosentino even made chef-optimized pants for BetaBrand with an adjustable size waistband and an included napkin. So, wait, will the Bon Appétit/Banana Republic line be diner-optimized? Stain resistant shirts, jackets with built-in bibs and skirts with pockets to hide your big fancy blogger camera? Stayed tuned til next week to find out.

· Pairing the Right Clothes and the Right Table [NYT]
· All Bon Appetit Coverage on Eater [-E-]
· All Fashion Coverage on Eater [-E-]