Photo-Illustration: by The Cut; Photos: FX/Hulu, Everett Collection, J Crew
Like it or not, we are awash in merch. The Bear, a show about sandwiches and trauma and Jeremy Allen White’s biceps, is no exception. This week, following the release of its third season, the show released an embroidery-laden collaboration with J.Crew. Though The Bear has gotten plenty of unofficial horny merch treatment, this one homes in on the series’ goofy family of helper-outers, the Faks, whose odd-job company, Matter of Fak Supply, supports all the titular restaurant’s logistical needs. For $400, you can now own a workwear-inspired canvas jacket in homage to a fictional handyman played by a real-life chef.
Which is nice, I guess — and, judging by the fact that most of the collection is already sold out, hugely popular — but I must confess: This is not The Bear merch I crave. Watching this season, did I covet the uniforms of Matty Matheson’s Neil Fak and his jolly band of cousins, which included stunt guest star John Cena? No, I did not. What I wanted more than anything was the bandanna collection of Ayo Edebiri’s Sydney Adamu.
In what I strongly suspect is a product of Edebiri’s penchant for upsettingly good style, Sydney has flair. Her chef’s whites, gifted by Carmy, have little Thom Browne stripes, and there’s a set of vaguely punkish silver hoops. Last season, she braved the Chicagoan cold in a highly sought-after puffy babushka. But most consistently of all, she arrives at work with her partly bleached braids held back with a bandanna — a choice that reads as practical until you realize, episode after episode, just how many of these things she has. Some are vintage, others modern; there are batik-looking patterns, ones that look inspired by silk Hermès scarves, and a few that could have been plucked from the MoMA gift shop. Whenever Sydney bows her head to tweeze a microgreen into position — or, as is often the case, to wearily massage her eyeballs during a family shouting match — we are treated to whatever gorgeous print is stretched across the top of her head that day. Delightful!
This is all to say I would happily tie a bandanna that is subtly embroidered with The Bear’s branding around my neck during a breezy summer day — perhaps even one that was sourced from one of the small Chicago or online shops those bandannas came from, according to the show’s costume designers? It might even feel more meaningful than the Faks’ prep-meets-handyman garb — one of the designers told Popsugar that she thought of Sydney’s scarves as a “way of bringing her own point of view into spaces that might not readily accept her voice.” J.Crew is offering me the uniforms for the maintenance crew of a restaurant that gentrified itself, but I’d much rather wear the stylish accessories of its secret best chef.
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