Food and fashion have always tangoed, but in today’s inflationary economy, they’ve become fully intertwined. With groceries slowly becoming a luxury for many, high-end brands are treating food not as a sustenance, but as a status symbol. From Zendaya posing next to a punching bag of cereal flakes to lip glosses shaped like mixers, fashion campaigns are leaning into edible imagery as a shorthand for abundance and exclusivity—a way to signal their intended wealth bracket. Social media is noticing, and calling it he next phase of performative excess.
Zendaya’s On cereal flake punching bag
On April 15, 2025, X user @Zuttizutto reshared a post from X account @FilmUpdates, with two images from athletic clothing brand On’s latest campaign with actress Zendaya. Videos and photoshoots show the Challengers star in a futuristic setting; in one of the images, the Golden Globe winner is posed against a giant bag of “cereal flakes,” which is later used as a punching bag for her interstellar workout.
“That girl on TikTok that spoke about using food in fashion is just constantly vindicated like,” @Zuttizutto wrote in the caption of the reshare. The viral post has over 19.8M views, 357K likes, 22K saves, 16K reshares, and 295 comments.
When asked about the specifics, @Zuttizutto wrote a followup post writing, “Basically she was furthering the point another creator made that food is now a wealth symbol and is displayed like art because it is expensive.”
They also pointed out that “a lot of fashion houses and creatives are incorporating food symbolism in their art/campaigns for the same reasons.”
“This and the fact that due to the increase of the production of cheap ultra-processed food over the past century has further made it harder for the upper class to distinguish between those who gain weight due to affluence,” wrote X user @cardignpoet in the comments. “Therefore they have money to buy food and those who gain.”
“Who would’ve thought cereal could become a new fashion trend?” added X user @AnyaLacey03.
X user @charlioface even predicted that “we’ll soon see entire collections based on breakfast: from ‘corn pants’ to ‘yogurt sneakers.”
Who is the ‘food in fashion’ girl? How a viral food theory predicted fashion’s next big trend
Historically, (and as many X users also pointed out), food has always been a status symbol and a symbol of wealth.
X user @fortune__egg posted a series of images from fashion history, including images of fruit, fast food, and potato chip bags that were part of “chloe spring 2001, josephine baker ‘banana skirt’ (1920s), moschino fall 2014 and balenciaga spring 2023.”
“‘Food fashion’ is forever, regardless of the economy,” they added in the caption of their post.
Blogger Charlie Brown explained that social media has exemplified this concept, from Instagrammable fridgescapes to videos of at-home salad bars.
She also pointed out how influencers such as Emma Chamberlain are able to open coffee shops where the surface-level marketing is high (“Our beans are roasted with love), but the background and pertinent information is missing (ok, but where did those love-roasted beans come from?).
“I saw someone who predicts fashion trends on tik tok predict the mixture of food items with fashion/beauty bc high grocery prices makes them more of a luxury and to see it happen in real time is crazy,” wrote X user @guapunzel, resharing images from beauty brand Laneige’s line of lip glosses shaped like Kitchenaid mixers.
@kfesteryga Its giving you peasants can barely afford groceries but we have such an excess that we can use food as decor #kimkardashian #thekardashians #khloekardashian #foodtiktok #foodprices #costofliving #decor #hungergames #trendpredictions #gildedage ♬ original sound – kfesteryga
Recent rhetoric on the subject can be linked back to the TikTok content of @kfesteryga, whose viral video from Jan. 28, 2024, remains on the minds of social media users whenever the subject pops up.
The content creator is known for her food predictions, many of which are related to socio-economic themes, such as “poor food” becoming elevated in fine dining, and rightly stating that everyday food items would be positioned as a luxury category because it is becoming “very expensive to afford.”
“What screams wealth and excess wealth more than having an excess of food that you are not going to even eat, that is particularly off season, and it is now just tablescape for your parties? She stated in a greenscreen overlay video where she spoke about a few food-luxury examples, including Kim Kardashian’s tablescape of red grapes and roses, and Khloe Kardashian’s bouquet of orange roses mixed with orange slices.
“No one was eating this, it’s there just to show an abundance,” @kfesteryga points out, adding that the food would “go bad in a couple of days.”
Other videos include discussions about millennials splurging on groceries, and how brands play on the idea of their products as “bread and butter,” one of the cheapest combinations, either mixing with the ingredients or replacing them with a luxury item like expensive lipstick.
How high fashion is turning grocery shopping into a lifestyle campaign
On Feb. 25, 2025, Hailey Bieber released images on Instagram of herself spilling groceries out of paper bags. These weren’t candid images but, in a similar fashion to Zendaya’s On campaign, part of a fashion collaboration with athleticwear brand FILA.
While perhaps not haute couture, it’s proof that fashion brands are branching out beyond glossy ads and leaning into more subtle indications that their products are for everyday luxury experiences, like shopping for apples and kale.
High-fashion is also going beyond the runway and into the restaurant, opening brand-heavy cafes where they sell more food than frocks, more coffee than clutch purses. “Fashion has really bet big on venturing into the food space (Maison Kitsuné, Armani, Jacquemus, Prada, Tiffany, LV etc.),” X user @flyrebel wrote in the caption of their post which reshared images from the Lacoste restaurant in Monaco.
“Made me think of the Ralph Lauren restaurant and how it’s the hardest reservation to get here,” added X user @CoraCHarrington in the comments.
X user @therealest007 noted that “Consumables is the next biggest opportunity over the next 5-12 years as an entry point for premium to luxury brands. What we saw in spirits, fragrance and skincare, you’ll soon start to see in consumables more frequently.”
“Where’s that tweet about food in fashion,” wrote X user @iszweliokay, resharing images from a Heinz Brazil ad which banked on the Gen Z love of grills by creating luxurious sauce packet-shaped tooth jewelry.
Is the food in fashion theory convincing people their personal wealth is tied to what they eat or don’t eat? Some weren’t convinced Zendaya’s cereal flakes symbolized expensive taste.
“Corn flakes as a status symbol?” wrote X user @alessio_joseph in the comments of @Zuttizutto’s post.
“It’s cereal flakes, not caviar lol,” added X user @UWHS75819288.
The Daily Dot reached out to @Zuttizutto via X DM, and @kfesteryga via Instagram DM, for comment.
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