Today is an exciting day here at Cathedrals & Cafes! I’m launching a new blog series called Fashion + Food + Film, where I’ll be combining my love for clothes, a good meal, and a fun movie. We came up with this idea a couple weeks ago, and you could say it’s probably a direct result of being in a stay-at-home situation for so long. At the same time, I had been thinking about launching a new series on here but hadn’t quite noodled it out yet. I give Paul most of the credit for coming up with this idea, and I just love it so much. I hope you do, too!
If you’ve followed me on Instagram then you’ve seen me sharing more about the meals Paul cooks at home. He’s always been an amazing chef, but during quarantine we really got into documenting it more. I’ve also been sharing our weekly watch schedule of movies and shows (check out the lists from April and May). We started thinking about combining food and film, where Paul would create a dish that goes with the theme of the movie. That led to a discussion of wanting to dress up more for dinner at home (especially since we couldn’t really go out to dinner), and I started thinking about the clothing styles in these films and…voilà – my new series, Fashion + Food + Film, was born. Since we aren’t really able to travel right now either, this series helps fill the void from my Eat+Stay+Play travel guides. But I’m hoping to continue it even after resuming our usual travel schedule.
The Film
To kick off Fashion + Food + Film, I’m starting with a classic – Roman Holiday. I absolutely love everything about this little fantasy of a film. Audrey Hepburn plays Princess Ann, a young royal bored with her strict and sheltered life. Gregory Peck plays Joe Bradley, an American newsman living in Rome and looking for his next big story. As fate would have it, the two meet but Princess Ann pretends to be a regular girl (remember, social media didn’t exist in 1953 so it’s understandable that Joe wouldn’t have recognized her right away). Their love story develops against the backdrop of Rome’s greatest monuments and ruins. It’s so beautifully composed and I love that it’s in black & white. Did you know it was filmed in its entirety in Rome?
The Fashion
The biggest thing I love about fashion is that it always comes back around. It amazes me that Audrey Hepburn’s outfit throughout the majority of the film is just as “in” today as it was back then. Her entire look is simple, elegant, chic, and looks pretty comfortable for exploring a large European city like Rome. And let’s face it, riding a Vespa just doesn’t look or feel the same without wearing a neck scarf to wave in the wind as you zip past.
To recreate Hepburn’s classic look, I combined a white button up shirt with a pleated midi-skirt. I paired this with lace-up espadrilles and a silk neck scarf. That’s really all you need. I’ve linked some styles to help you recreate the look, too. Any a-line midi to maxi length skirt will do. In the film she rolls up her long peasant style sleeves, so you could go with a short sleeve button up shirt or even a simple white t-shirt to modernize it even more. Lace up sandals like Audrey wears complete the outfit. But you know I love espadrilles so I went with those.
Recreate my look:
The Food
Roman Holiday highlights the la dolce vita feel of Rome’s cafe lifestyle, with Princess Ann enjoying her first gelato from a street vendor, sipping champagne from a coupe glass with her first cigarette, and having chianti from a simple water glass. We decided to make a classic Italian dish that I think Princess Ann and Joe Bradley would have loved – cacio e pepe.
Cacio e pepe means “cheese and pepper,” and it’s one of the easiest pasta dishes to make given its minimal ingredients. We’ve made lots of cacio e pepe. It’s one of my favorite Italian comfort foods. Typically, cacio e pepe is made with long pasta such as tagliolini, bucatini (my fave), or spaghetti. This go around we experimented with rigatoni, a short pasta, and it was great!
This pasta is perfect when paired with an Italian red wine like Chianti Classico, the base grape of which is Sangiovese. Chianti is every bit as important to Italian food as the extra virgin olive oil is. You can find a lot of really good Chianti wines at reasonable prices, too. If red wine isn’t your thing, a white wine like Orvieto would also go really nicely.
Try this cacio e pepe recipe from Bon Appétit!
I hope you enjoyed the first edition of Fashion + Food + Film! What did you think? Are you ready for a Roman holiday? I know I am!
xo – Erin
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New Series: Fashion + Food + Film appeared first on CathedralsandCafes.com. If you see this content published anywhere else, please email cathedralsandcafes@gmail.com.
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