Agent Provocateur and Gizzi Erskine Host a Virtual Cooking Class for Vogue100

After navigating our way through a chaotic year and an intense, drawn-out election, Vogue100 decided it was time for some old fashioned, lighthearted fun, in the form of a Zoom cooking class. The event was co-hosted by Sarah Shotton, Agent Provocateur’s creative director, and Gizzi Erskine, chef and writer. Erskine stars as the face of Agent Provocateur’s latest campaign, featuring strong women at the top of their game. Vogue Market Editors Naomi Elizee and Maddy Swanson kicked off the conversation dressed in slinky Agent Provocateur kimonos as the group toasted the hosts with a glass of Ruinart Champagne.

The plat du jour was Erskine’s Green Tomato Salsa and Shakshuka. Thanks to Fraîche, a sustainable food delivery platform that works closely with local farm stands nationwide, groceries were hand-delivered first thing in the morning. As guests began prepping their Fraîche ingredients, Shotton offered some insight into her 21-year tenure at Agent Provocateur, which began shortly after her graduation from Central Saint Martins. After working her way up the ladder, she landed the role of creative director. “I think Joseph Corré took a liking to me as I reminded him of his mother,” she jokes of Agent Provocateur’s co-founder and son of the legendary Vivienne Westwood. “We’re both red-headed Northern girls.” Shotton’s interest in lingerie design was born from a lack of sexy, comfortable bras for curvaceous women. Over the years, she has worked to change the outlook of lingerie designers and inspire consumers to liberate their inner superwoman. Who better for the campaign than Erskine, a businesswoman with such a multifaceted personality? “For me, she is almost like Sophia Loren,” Shotton said of her muse. “A rare starlet and so very Agent Provocateur.”

The relationship began when Erskine quite literally slid into Shotton’s DMs. A message that subsequently blossomed into a close friendship built on mutual respect and admiration for each other. Erskine describes Shotton as “a magician.” After collectively whizzing up the green tomato salsa in a food processor, a few brave, budding chefs proceeded onto part two: Green Shakshuka. In the midst of what can only be described as the most fabulously haphazard cooking class, Erskine shed some light on her upcoming cookbook, Restore (Harper Collins). In addition to providing delicious recipes, Erskine hopes that her readers use Restore as a learning tool for being an ethical and agriculturally savvy eater.

“I’m a soil nerd!” says Erskine, who has spent the past four years examining the environmental concerns around monocropping, waste, and the meat and dairy industry. Chef and soil nerd by day, Sophia Loren by night, she is the true embodiment of an Agent Provocateur woman.