Pret-a-Portea, at the Berkeley Hotel in the Knightsbridge section of London, serves edible versions of designer collections, updated every six months, for a fashionable high tea. The hotel's pastry chefs go to fashion shows and a use a team of editors from various publications as consultants about the latest trends. The yellow Smythson "Maze Bag" is a banana sponge cake; there's a chocolate cookie version of a Valentino red coat — complete with gold buttons. Gushes writer Ben Seidler: "The tailor-made tea is served so that, whenever a guest takes a cake or savoury nibble, it is quickly replaced on the cake stand. Over and over, one can relive the excitement of a Louis Vuitton dress selling out and being re-issued, simply by stuffing one's face. (The display refills within fashion friendly limits, though, this is not an all-you-can-eat buffet)." [International Herald Tribune]
