TIDBTW Guest: Chris Paxton, artist & chef
A dreamer's encounter between art, cravings and fashion
Hello dear TIDBTW readers. Here I am, lingering in the final days before I take a pause from maternity leave for a few special projects and fashion week, about to set compose PR in motion again. As I’m reconnecting with my profession, it’s perfect timing for the next issue of TIDBTW Guest and a reminder on how fashion can connect people. TIDBTW Guest is a series of those whose take on fashion I admire – and want to learn more about. In each interview they will share a bit of their personal style journey and thoughts on things (not) to buy. Welcome to episode two, featuring Chris Paxton, artist & cook.
I first met Chris two years ago, when Arthur and I spontaneously joined our friend’s getaway at a house in the countryside. I’m sometimes a bit shy when it comes to groups, but somehow this turned out the most refreshing and grounding 24 hours of the whole summer. It was all about a random lucky gathering of people, where each and everyone is important to the magic of it. While we all ate in the garden and swam in the nearby lake, lazing around at the tiny beach, I got a sense of Chris, in the way that you see people’s auras. I felt like there is a gentleness, confidence and appreciation for everything around him, I remember his style being functional (think really nice shorts and longsleeves such as the ones by Satisfy) without being rigid and his hair cut being close to, but way cooler than my own bob length. I haven’t really seen Chris since (but you can tell, I do take lasting mental notes on style), apart from one very snowy day, in early December last year. As I crossed the street with the pram and my newborn, he waited at the traffic light with his bike. While I was wearing the entirety of my closet to stay on the plus side, he seemed featherlight, donning something like maybe a ROA neck warmer? I don’t do effortless at -4 degrees, but Chris seemed prepared. The next day, I got a message:
And while this is obviously not a lengthy conversation, it was so nice to receive. Sometimes all it needs is a brief waving at each other at a street light to bring a bit of softness to your day. Looking at the second issue of TIDBTW Guest, I had a feeling that Chris would be a great person to chat to. I adore his dreamy yet bold clothes, the inherent love for food and textures, but most of all his connection with nature. A gentle inspiration to stop and look at the flowers, the trees, the stones, to hike up that mountain and take it all in. While dressing with fun and a bit of risk! Please enjoy, here’s my conversation with Chris. xoxo
TIDBTW Guest: Chris Paxton, artist & chef
Things I didn’t buy this week: Please introduce yourself - who are you and what are you doing? How did you arrive where you are right now?
Chris Paxton: Hi! I’m Chris. I tend to shy away from definite labels for myself and I loathe always introducing myself by what I do for money, but “artist” feels broad enough to explain how I find meaning in life and “cook” feels like an approachable enough term to explain what I spend a lot of my time doing while shaking off this all-knowing expertise that “chef” conveys, which kind of gives me the ick to be honest. I once read a substack newsletter from Ecstasy Cookbook that made this point that “Chefs are professionals and cooks are, at the highest level, grandmothers,” and that really resonated with me somehow. I want to ask questions with my art and cooking, to better understand the world through cravings and to care for by serving. A sense of mastery or perfection in what I do is never the goal. Everything is a process. So yeah, this is who I am right now. I’m a total dreamer haha
I run a creative culinary studio in Berlin called Lucky You Studios. Last year I was hosting a dinner series called Dreams at Kwia, though I haven't done one recently since they’re remodeling the kitchen.
Right now I’m listening to birds while sitting under an apple tree, watching smoke rings rise above a volcano. I originally wanted to come to Sicily because I was planning a hike. For the past 3 years at the end of April I’ve been doing a solo thru-hike finishing on May 1st, which is my mother’s birthday. The trek has been a yearly exercise in grief and has helped me cope with her passing immensely. This year I found some burning desire in the film Fire of Love so I picked Mt. Etna for this year’s hike. Kind of on a whim I reached out to Lukas at Casa Lawa, a guesthouse and residency, about possibly working on something together while I was there. He had a single chef residency spot left open for the exact days leading up to this hike, so I’ve been here for the past two weeks cooking for travelers. It’s all been too perfect really. Three hundred cherry trees burst open in full bloom on the day I arrived.
TIDBTW: Would you consider yourself as someone interested in fashion?
CP: Yes, totally! Though less so in following every move of the fashion world, which somehow makes me feel less connected than alienated. I think my interest in fashion is at least partially connected to my obsession with containers and vessels. In a kitchen everything needs a place to live. The lemons can’t just sit on the counter, they deserve to be held. It’s the same in my apartment, everything has its place and a story, little altars for precious pieces. So I feel like fashion for me is about finding a sense of home and meaning wherever you are. For me this often means clothes that allow me to be outdoors and to adapt with changing conditions. I always come back to this Final Home collection by designer Kosuke Tsumura from 1994. It’s a bit apocalyptic in concept, something that feels more and more urgent, but I love all the pockets and bags and pieces designed to carry themselves.
TIDBTW: How did you find your personal style and how would you describe it?
CP: I love wearing natural fibers, woven & knit textiles. They hold me between their carefully placed strands and know how to soften with time and care. I will go through intense obsessive phases with colors and patterns. A couple years ago it was all orange everything after I watched this Osho documentary, Wild Wild Country. All his followers dressed in monochrome: reds, maroon and oranges - so sick. This year I’m wearing a lot of olivine greens and camo.
Camo is so trashy but I love feeling like I’m wearing my environment.
If I’m wearing synthetic materials it’s because it’s some sort of technical or active wear built to sustain in all conditions. I love clothes with lots of places to keep important things close, pieces that expand and contract based on need, things with openings and room to breathe. I’m a bit of a sneaker head as well… Gore-Tex trail running shoes changed my life. hahah
TIDBTW: I picture you as an outdoorsy person with amazing functional and technical garments, always close to nature at heart - how does that mix with Berlin city aesthetic for you? Does Berlin affect the way you dress?
CP: People love to talk shit about Berlin’s all-black techno fashion sense. I get it. Cities can feel brutal and inhumane and dark. But I was always drawn to Berlin because it somehow felt soft to me. People stare at the sun when it decides to show up in spring, they sit in parks all day and drink on the sidewalk all summer and when fall comes there’s a certain mood of embracing the change that I really appreciate. I dress for comfort in the city and wear clothes that let me hop around on my bike, rain or shine. Until recently it always felt to me like an unwanted luxury to choose clothes for looks over function but really I want both in the things I wear.
TIDBTW: Do you have a work uniform?
CP: In the kitchen I wear an apron from Dusen Dusen. A cheeky white tee. Olive green Uggs waterproof clogs on my feet. (Editor’s note: Love a good clog!)
I love wearing these vintage linen balloon army pants I snagged off a online vintage shop* to stay loose and comfy. A brown waxed canvas knife bag is where my knives and chopsticks live.
TIDTBW: At the time of this conversation you are chef in residence at Casa Lawa in Sicily, which seems like an absolute dream. How is your style affected by your residencies or travels? Is there something you always pack when away from home?
CP: Someone I met once while hiking through snowy mountains told me “a backpack is for carrying all of your fears”. But of course I always bring a backpack with me. I’m like actually super opposed to using a suitcase, especially one with wheels, though I had to make an exception on this trip to carry my knives and too many spices, my tent and my sleeping bag. I always imagine having to cross a city on foot with a suitcase, dragging it behind me like a roaring corpse… what a nightmare.
My favorite bag ever ever is this side pack from Seventeen Thirtythree.
I got one before I moved to Berlin from Chicago and used it for years until it burst at the seams. Phil was super sweet when I asked him to repair it for me and showed him photos some of the ways I’d used it. You can barely see it in this photo, hiding under all the stuff I had strapped to it while walking my parent’s dog in the mountains.
TIDBTW: How would you describe your relationship with buying (new) things?
CP: I’m quite obsessive with my purchases and super picky. When I find something I like I’ll swoon and scour the internet until I find it in the exact model, color or size that I want, no compromises. I don’t love this feeling of yearning for products all the time, but when I buy new things I consider the quality of materials and construction first. I will wear something out because I love it so much and tend to want to repair rather than replace, in the end often for sentimental reasons.
I will say I’ve recently been enchanted by some Instagram targeted ads for clothes. The ad algorithms are so sophisticated and reactive. It’s crazy. But what I got in the post was actually kind of trash. I won’t be fooled again.
THINGS YOU DIDN'T BUY - BUT THINK OF
TIDBTW: Are there some clothes in your past that you didn’t buy, but still think about?
CP: Sure, but to be honest it’s mostly things I can’t convince myself I can afford so I simply appreciate from a distance. I’m thinking a lot about these Lemaire slippers. They feel like something my grandpa would wear while driving his taxi around Tokyo. He wore white Airforce Ones too which is cool.
I have a lot of fun looking at convincing designer bag fakes though I never actually buy them. I almost got a fake Rimowa suitcase in the Phillipines, just for the thrill of it, but of course I don’t even like carrying suitcases. Plus I would feel so German at the airport. The bubble popped pretty quick.
THINGS YOU BOUGHT AND WHY
TIBTW: Can you name your highlight purchases of the last few years – or ever?
CP: I love my blue and green gauze sweatshirt from Halo Labels, the way the layers crease together to make this texture effect feels like the softest magic, like wearing a cloud in the shifting light. I just got this INSANE candy pink RealTree Camo rain jacket from Sculptor.
I love wearing it because it feels like a contradiction to stand out so much in camo, but a lot of animals (mostly mammals) don’t have very good color vision. So I imagine walking through the woods without the animals judging me too hard. I love my Roa light down puffer jacket from their AW23 collection. Everything they make is so thoughtfully designed from start to finish and looks amazing in and out of the city. That collection was also shot in Dungeness, where one of my favorite artists Derek Jarman once lived. I’ve loved to death some black Levis jeans that my friend Hallie bleach dyed for me.
They’re wearing new holes all the time and I’ve had them mended 5 times already. I think of her when I wear them and I hope they will last forever. Speaking of Hallie I also got this cute black Paul bag from Paloma Wool with a little passport photo sized window in it and her photo is there. She’s like my guardian angel.
WISHLIST 2024
TIDBTW: Is there something on your wishlist for this year?
CP: I try not to keep a wishlist or want too much. I have everything I need and feel blessed.
TIDBTW: What is sustainability in terms of fashion to you?
CP: Made to last, with and within nature.
TIDBTW: Thank you for sharing <3
*Editor’s note (especially for Arthur who was super keen to know): Chris tried to hunt down the vintage outerwear IG shop where he got those linen army pants, but, as he puts it: “a classic case of following too many accounts and not remembering the handle” – I think we can all relate.
Editor’s note: Update: 12/1/25: Chris messaged me the other day to provide the link, so kind! So for all you vintage lovers, you can follow his lead here: Inside Tag