Why This Fashion Designer Is Serving Smoked Salami on the Runway

Smoked salami belongs on a fashion week catwalk like Donald Trump belongs at a Cinco De Mayo party. That is unless that fashion designer happens to be Henrik Vibskov, who grew up in a family of pig farmers in Denmark. He's made a name for himself with a pork-patterned suit, and the same person who once packaged his application for the Danish design school in pickle juice.

For his latest collection, which is shown at Copenhagen Fashion Week, the renowned Danish fashion designer is serving up more than just pig patterns; he's serving up the pig. Working together with a butcher, a sausage casing printmaker, and a couple of culinary entrepreneurs, Vibskov has made his own salami: the Vibs salami. Complete with organic certification, product labeling, and a fashionable casing design.

When the collection was first shown in Paris this June at the opulent Westin, the hotel's head chef served up the sliced salami on silver trays to fashionable guests sporting bright red lipstick, attitude, and champagne flutes.

"Some people were a bit bewildered and said, 'No, thank you,' while others were more curious," recalls Henrik Vibskov of the Paris show. "When they got into the show, they still had this smoked salami taste in their mouths. It had a real pungent smell. There were obviously some people who were too posh and were too busy keeping track of their sunglasses rather than eating an actual sausage."

The fashion show, known as The Salami Kitchen, takes place in a surrealist universe where the fabric patterns are inspired by martial arts and models parading around a 20-meter long "sausage factory" where butchers in white aprons are hanging fake fabric salamis on racks. It's futuristic sci-fi utopia rather than classic catwalk.

And it's far away from the small town of Kjellerup in eastern Jutland where Vibskov grew up and where nobody even contemplated such a thing as a meatless meal. His grandmother had a pig farm, which was the foundation for their "family existence" and the school kids ate rye bread with cheap bright-pink salami for lunch. There has always been something about Vibskov and the pigs, which he first introduced to the world for his degree show at London's Central Saint Martins school in 2001 with his infamous "pigs collection" suit and porcine-shaped handbag.

But a pattern design is one thing. What the hell is sliced salami doing at a high-profile international fashion event? According to Vibskov, the sausage project and the new show is about exploring our relationship with the food industry and the contrast between our cravings for connoisseur products and the Danish culinary heritage of cheap bread rolls, thick layers of butter, and additive-laden salami. It's about our obsession with the finer things in life in a world where most people have nothing; about a future where meat and salami might not even be part of the food that we consume.

"For me, it's an opportunity to comment on the various levels of society, on politics and culture. What it is that we value. What it is it that we make. What it is that we could eat ten years ago but no longer want to touch."

The oversized salamis made out of fabric, which hang in the catwalk "factory" are bright pink like his childhood salami, but the edible sausages are pure craftsmanship made by some of the finest suppliers in Denmark. It was a collaboration which threw the fashion designer into uncharted waters.

"It was a brand new world that opened up to me," says Vibskov. "I have been in touch with a printmaker that does sausage casings! We've had long discussions about what is possible, what you can print, and how to do the packaging. There were all these details in terms of how to make a salami, about how it shrinks at the ends and all that stuff.

"It brought a smile to everybody's face when we talked about it at work."

Susanne Pedersen, the casings printmaker, runs her company Charles Christiansen in Rødekro. The company slogan is: "Have you got the sausage? Then we have the casing."

"It didn't ring a bell when the name Henrik Vibskov was first mentioned to me," says Susanne Pedersen. "They sent over information about how they wanted the label to look, but I just couldn't make it work because sausage casings are one thing, and fashion is something else altogether."

It wasn't until Pedersen was having coffee with a friend when it all clicked. "We went rummaging around my wardrobe," she says, "and, yes, I owned a Vibskov design. It was a really fun project to become part of."

The sausages were made and smoked at a butcher shop called Slagtergården, one of Denmark's organic sausage pioneers in collaboration with the company ODC-MAD. The culinary duo behind ODC-MAD have previously designed a pair of shoes for the danish craft beer brewer Mikkeller and also run an online organic butcher's shop.

"The salami is inspired by a traditional recipe from the southern part of Jutland, which the butcher from Holbæk has perfected throughout the years," says Jonathan Soriano from ODC-MAD. "It became the Vibskov sausage, since we made it slightly smaller than that type of salami usually is. That's also why we had to get the casings expert involved.

"Originally we wanted to produce so many salamis that Henrik would be able to distribute them alongside his collection, but after consulting with someone who knows a thing or two about logistics, we decided to abandon that idea completely. Instead, we made the salamis for the shows in Paris and Copenhagen, but he initially really liked the idea of retailers buying his clothes and stocking the salamis as well."

The team tested Hungarian and Spanish sausage types but the goal according to Vibskov, was "to make it as Danish as possible". There are no exotic herbs or other sorts of digressions; it's one part organic ham, one part organic beef. It's spicy with pepper and has a delicate smoked aroma which gets stronger with every bite. It's the taste of a traditional Danish lunch and open-faced sandwiches, served on rye bread with a squirt of "remoulade" sauce and crispy onions. Or maybe as part of a quality charcuterie platter. Or alongside a "skinny bitch" cocktail at a late-night cocktail party during fashion week.

If Vibskov is able to recreate the magic from Paris at his show in Copenhagen's meatpacking district, where will all of the real butchers work?

"It was a sort of absurd situation being in this golden Parisian palace, where the contrast between the venue and the show worked really well. But it feels fitting to do it in the meatpacking district. Almost too good to be true. Perhaps it will be bloody beautiful."