Ramsay's fashion nightmare

[ryangary]

From New York Metro Magazine

http://nymag.com/restaurants/features/25586/index.html

I personally like short sleeve chef coats. The long sleeve always remind me of pajama tops and I was always rolling up the sleeves.

[goldie]

I think he looks like a dentist.

[Lesley C]

I loved wearing those short-sleeved vests back when I was a chef. Mind you I was a pastry chef, so there was little chance of burns. I hated the long-sleeved vests, they were hot, heavy and I spent half my day rolling up the bloody sleeves.

I say way to go Gordo!

[JasonZ]

Well, unless your chef's jacket's long sleeves are subtly hiding a layer of Dupont Nomex heat/fire-resistant cloth, I doubt you'll get that much protection from a spill or a hot stove/pot from a layer of cotton ... and I suppose FDA/USDA/NY Food ispectors might care what sleeve length you choose if you have hairy arms ....

... and I'm sure now that the NYT has pointed it out, discerning NYers will inquire, before they ask to see the menu, or know what the specials are, or even whether the restaurant even takes credit cards, "does the chef wear a Ramsey?" ... the sine qua non for whether the food is any good.

If Gordon Ramsey eats the NY restaurant scene's lunch (and dinner), it will be because of the quality of his food, not what's on the "runway" in the back of the house. Paris knows enough to separate couture from cuisine ... maybe Manhattan should learn ...

... so, inquiring minds want to know ... does he wear boxers or briefs ... V neck or ... "nothing at all"

[Chef Bradley]

Surely Escoffier didn’t barrel about his kitchen looking like Jerry the dentist from The Bob Newhart Show, and neither do the majority of New York’s top chefs that we talked to.

I had a chuckle,

[Sararwelch]

Seriously, Mario Batali has committed way worse fashion blunders.

[Worldly]

Gordon and Mario (and countless others) are sitting back chuckling that people are considering them models to be observed for their fashion sense.

[lala]

Well, unless your chef's jacket's long sleeves are subtly hiding a layer of Dupont Nomex heat/fire-resistant cloth, I doubt you'll get that much protection from a spill or a hot stove/pot from a layer of cotton ... and I suppose FDA/USDA/NY Food ispectors might care what sleeve length you choose if you have hairy arms ....

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If you've ever worked in a kitchen, you know that that layer of cotton saves you from countles splashes and splatters of burning oil and bubbling pots, and provides some protection if you brush up against hot pans. Also saves you from "bakers burns" when dealing with full size sheet pans. Yes, the jacket is hot, that's why you wear a t shirt underneath to provide a layer of air. But I wouldn't have worked without one.

[Pontormo]

Too bad three-quarter length sleeves never caught on in men's fashion.

They're just so practical.

[Joisey]

With garbage like this article, is it any wonder that Ramsay has an adversarial relationship with the media?

Personally, I like the short sleeves, I always roll mine up anyway. For every burn I've gotten from having exposed arms, I've hooked five ladles/steamer handles/etc with the cuffs of full length sleeves.

[Pontormo]

stELLAAAA!!!!

[Chef Bradley]

With garbage like this article, is it any wonder that Ramsay has an adversarial relationship with the media?

Personally, I like the short sleeves, I always roll mine up anyway.  For every burn I've gotten from having exposed arms, I've hooked five ladles/steamer handles/etc with the cuffs of full length sleeves.

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Ahhh, nothing like a little sauce dribble/ scorch to wake you up on a rough night lol.

[Carrot Top]

stELLAAAA!!!!

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Mmm hmm. Except Marlon's showy upper arms were even more well. . .whatever it is that they are supposed to be.

Darn it all, but if it weren't for the health code laws we might get to see him in a chef coat designed like a wife-beater? (I hear that horn necklaces are back in style too ).

[Basildog]

I couldn't give a toss about his jacket, but is a hat too much to ask for?

[Carrot Top]

I daresay we might see him someday on a television ad for some sort of comfy shoes.

[Ohba]

With garbage like this article, is it any wonder that Ramsay has an adversarial relationship with the media?

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"The media" in Gordon Ramsay's case would also have to include his own use of television as a method of self-promotion. He was very keen to stress in an early series that he was not a "celebrity chef" (he used Gary Rhodes as an example of what he meant), but that's exactly what he became, eclipsing Rhodes in the process, and his television programmes played a big part. It's not as if he did just one series and then knocked it on the head, either.

Part of the problem is that he looks as if he's trying to play it both ways. He cares desperately about what the reviews say - his series show him more than once going to get the first edition of the morning paper to see what's been said about his restaurant. He badly wanted his third Michelin star, which again, was worked into the series. He also seems happy enough to let selected press or photographers into his home (would you?), put his wife and kids up to be filmed, etc. In short, if you were casting round for a term to describe him, "media whore" might spring to mind - the very thing that he wants people to believe he is not. And his programmes might be engrossing, but it's very debatable whether they could be called high quality television - in which case, who can draw the line on what is garbage and what isn't?

His programmes show staff being totally humiliated, which to me is very uncomfortable to watch. The perfectionist argument can only be used so many times before it wears thin. He insults staff, often repeatedly, about their physical appearance, during his harangues - people who are fat, bald, foreign, whatever difference he can find while he works through his frustration. It's not pretty watching someone who has the power to fire on the spot, and is known to do it, daring his staff to answer back, calling them cowards when they don't, grabbing them, bitching about their salary... that's not training, it's bullying, whatever pressure he's under (cf the Buddy Rich tapes).

There was an incident in one series that showed the same pattern of wanting it both ways - he took 5,000 pounds as the appearance fee to do a 30 minute cooking demonstration with Bramley's apples. On camera for his own series, he talked about selling out, substituted a different kind of apple for Bramleys, acknowledged that it was about the easiest money he'd ever made, and referred to the Bramleys board representative as a "plonker".

I think those are the kind of things that the media pick up on when they write stories in a negative light. To not do so - say, to only talk about his reputation for inspiring loyalty in his staff, or his many acts of generosity, or his undoubted talent, would be less than the whole truth. His adversarial relationship with the media is inevitable, in other words, and he's largely to blame for it by choosing to live in the public eye and rigging his kitchens up with television cameras.

[FabulousFoodBabe]

stELLAAAA!!!!

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I have this vision of Chef Ramsay lifting stuff in the kitchen, and stopping for a moment to admire his well-oiled guns in the door of the refrigerator ... nice.

Seriously, though. Why is this news? Most cooks I know wear long sleeves rolled up to their elbows.

[tmgrobyn]

I don't really care what Gordon wears. What I am concerned about is the fact that he has to take off his shirt and put on his chef's jacket on every show. Yes, Gordon, you kindof work out. We know. Enough already, dude.

[Claudia Greco]

Well, unless your chef's jacket's long sleeves are subtly hiding a layer of Dupont

... so, inquiring minds want to know ... does he wear boxers or briefs ... V neck or ... "nothing at all"     

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Going by his previous skivviness on Boiling Point, it was briefs. Black or dark blue, I believe (!) (And the only reason I recall is because in the episode in which he was preparing for Marcus Waring's wedding, he kept shucking his "kit" as he changed - for the bachelor party, the wedding, etc. - and I thought, "Hmmm . . . does Gordo NOT care he's being taped? Or did he just forget?") Mind you, Boiling Point was shot nearly 10 years ago . . . (!)

[CaptainJack]

This is stupid journalism, this person gets paid for this tripe?

I wear short sleeved shirts, some others don't, its a pointless piece of drivel.

[Carrot Top]

Well, unless your chef's jacket's long sleeves are subtly hiding a layer of Dupont

... so, inquiring minds want to know ... does he wear boxers or briefs ... V neck or ... "nothing at all"     

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Going by his previous skivviness on Boiling Point, it was briefs. Black or dark blue, I believe (!) (And the only reason I recall is because in the episode in which he was preparing for Marcus Waring's wedding, he kept shucking his "kit" as he changed - for the bachelor party, the wedding, etc. - and I thought, "Hmmm . . . does Gordo NOT care he's being taped? Or did he just forget?") Mind you, Boiling Point was shot nearly 10 years ago . . . (!)

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What?! A chef that is an exhibitionist?!

No. . no. . .it can't be.