Culinary students may still squeeze themselves into the stiff white chefs coat, long the industry’s de rigueur uniform. But the new must-have garb, particularly among Atlanta’s male chefs who have made it to the top of the food chain, is the designer apron.
Fashionable and functional, the next-gen cooks apron takes its style cues from protective gear worn by hunters, gardeners, butchers, and carpenters. And it’s a far better choice for making a statement than a silly towering toque.
(Pictured left to right)
Zachary Meloy
Better Half
Local clothing designer Shannon Johnson made this apron using scraps of vintage ticking, copying a traditional Japanese pattern with broad straps that cross in the back.
Steven Satterfield
Miller Union
Satterfield’s favorite apron is a lightweight waxed cotton design called Contra, a limited-edition piece from Tilit Chef Goods out of Brooklyn.
Angus Brown
Octopus Bar
Brown—who opens Lusca with partner Nhan Le this spring—is working with a local seamstress on his own apron line. Note the X on the right shoulder, Brown’s signature touch.
Hugh Acheson
Empire State South
When not wearing a mustard-colored shop apron made by OMFGCO Bridge & Burn, Acheson sports this oilcloth apron—a gift from Southern fashion maven Billy Reid.
Todd Ginsberg
The General Muir
A classicist, Ginsberg wears a long, bib-style apron made by chef apparel company Bragard USA. He keeps a neat stack of them in his car’s backseat.
Joe Schafer
King + Duke
Schafer and his crew wear heavy-duty cotton Cayson-brand aprons, double-lined in the front to help deflect the heat from the restaurant’s ferocious wood-fire grill.
This article originally appeared in our April 2014 issue under the headline “Strings Attached.”
