Food and clothes come together at menswear launch party

The worlds of fashion and food don't often converge, but they did on Monday for the opening of menswear shop Slowear. Taking over the corner shop at Wyndham and D'Aguilar streets, its name-recognition strategy includes sponsoring the main space of its neighbour the Fringe Club, now called the Slowear Gallery. In return, the art venue hosted the opening party in its fotogalerie - it was supposed to be the roof terrace but, alas, it rained. There, guests were offered a mini buffet catered by three top local culinary experts: Jacky Yu Kin-chi (pictured, left) of Xi Yan, Margaret Xu Yuan (right) from Yin Yang and Le Mieux Bistro's Ricky Cheung Kam-cheung. 'The reason I'm doing this is because I'm good friends with Alice Ng-Maier' (executive with the Hagemeyer-Cosa Liebermann Group, which is bringing Slowear to Hong Kong, Yu explained. 'She asked if I can do this event. I said yes, and I'll get my two friends to work with me.'

That's quite a culinary coup, the equivalent of a UK event with Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsay and Nigella Lawson doing the canap?s. Yu and Xu even worked behind the counter (Cheung would've joined but he's in Japan) serving guests. You could easily tell the non-epicureans because they turned down Xu's unusually colourful, delicious Chinese cakes. The fools.

Yu and Ng-Maier of Slowear - yes, their philosophy is like slow food but with clothes - must be good friends, because the popular chef is super-busy these days, relocating one of his restaurants. 'The Causeway Bay shop in G.O.D. is relocating to Taikoo Shing. It will be a bigger place, so right now I'm very busy.' Xi Yan East is opening tomorrow.