Some say the camera eats first, but not Ashley or Mary-Kate Olsen. The twin designers at The Row have banned phones from their shows for a few seasons now, but they always make sure guests are fed.
After the brand’s fall 2026 show during Paris Fashion Week, attendees were invited to enjoy snacks that included white boxes of exactly eight paper-wrapped cherries and blackberries. (“Every cherry this succulent and sweet should be boxed like a fine ruby,” said Vogue’s head of editorial content, Chloe Malle, there on the ground.) There were also chocolates from the pioneering Parisian bean-to-bar chocolaterie PLAQ, fresh orange juice, and sparkling water.
Stone fruits like cherries and aggregate fruits like blackberries aren’t actually in season right now in the northern hemisphere. In Europe, the peak season for both fruits is generally between mid-June and the early fall (though climate change has led some to appear a bit sooner, in late May). This time of year, you’ll find round and deeply rosy cherries in countries like Chile or New Zealand; and blackberries at their most onyx, plump, and juicy in Mexico—the top global producer of them. So to nosh on both in France in early March was quite a treat for show guests, indeed.
And it was certainly a step up from spring 2026, which yielded not snacks but bottles of Litewater, marketed as “the purest water in the world.” Retailing at $225 per pack, Litewater is extracted from a natural artesian well in Tambov, a remote area of Russia that’s organic-certified and a designated chemical and GMO-free green zone. It suited a collection focused on superlative simplicity, communicated in louche, leisurely layers.
Previous seasons have run the gamut of salt and sweet. For fall 2024—the first season they asked showgoers to go photo-free—guests filtering out of the Rococo maison on Rue de Capucines were presented with a Proustian parting gift of madeleines. Just like the pencil and paper they were given to take notes with during the show, these were more objects to encourage the idea of really relishing the moment, embracing the happenings like the dessert menu that, sure, you’ll take a look at.
The Row resort 2024 show, soundtracked by Bauhaus’s spooky-sexy anthem “Bela Lugosi’s Dead,” presented a collection of sumptuous outerwear and capacious bags with unraveling edges that pushed the viewer to consider longevity. To follow were trays of crisp, sweet, slightly spicy Beurré Bosc pears with red waxen stems that matched the brief shots of color on the runway, and shards of dark chocolate piled high—flavors and textures with rollicking mouthfeels that linger.
When the Olsens surprise-launched The Row’s line of homewares during Milan’s Salone del Mobile last year, it was a typically discreet and low-key affair. At the 18th-century Palazzo Belgioioso, guests meandered through high-ceilinged, almost monastic-feeling rooms to view stacks of bed linens and wrought iron chairs. All the while, waiters wandered the rooms with platters of kumquats, bitter leaves, asparagus, and wedges of Parmesan cheese, along with elegant glass cups of Prosecco and sparkling water. Crudités Olsen-style provide quick, sharp sustenance, with a small capitulation to protein.
The Row-iverse got its realest feeding in fall 2025. After a collection of deceptively simple, fluid tailoring and flashes of already cult-classic accessories and footwear, there was a rich and peppery chicken broth, compact ham and cheese baguettes, and chicken and bacon (!) sandwiches.
Fashion Month is punctuated by restaurant takeovers, cocktails, and brand pop-ups. In New York, Martha Stewart sat front row at TWP and enjoyed the complimentary cookies. Londoners had free lemon curd-sweetened matchas by Blank Street ready for collection after shows in the Newgen space, and I’m still thinking about pastry chef Louis Thompson’s cherry and almond gateau for Stefan Cooke’s presentation and party last season. There’s the dread and despair of rocking up to what you think is a sit-down meal but ends up being a “roaming dinner,” where burger sliders and mini fish tacos are hoovered up before completing even one circuit of the room.
Food is in fashion—a gargantuan grocery haul or early adoption of a trending food item signals luxury and status—and we’re all eating it up. Wherever Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen went cherry-picking this time, they continue to cultivate a seasonal feeling of carefully curated, controlled abundance.
