Food for Film Stylists

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THE WAY TO A PHOTOGRAPHER’S HART

Food, glorious food is what Los Angeles-based stylist Alice Hart is all about. For the past 20 years, Hart, owner of Food for Film Stylists, has been making everything from gourmet dishes to common groceries and pet food look delicious. “The challenge is to take something three-dimensional and change it into a two-dimensional print ad and still have it appear mouthwatering to the eye,” says Hart. “There are many stylists who use many tricks, but I pride myself on keeping the product real and not fake-looking.”

A graduate and “Grande Diplomate” of Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, Hart also holds a “Certificat de Vin Francais” from L’Academie du Vin and is a founding member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals, the American Institute of Wine and Food, and the Southern California Culinary Guild.

This luminary academic background initially led Hart to research and development jobs for such food firms as Van de Kamp’s frozen foods and Nalley’s Fine Foods, but it was during her tenure as a consultant for California giant Lawry’s Foods that the idea of doing advertising came into play. “I was on the set for Lawry’s during a photo shoot and got immediately hooked,” she recalls. “The challenge of presenting food on camera in appealing and natural ways was irresistible to me. I apprenticed at Lawry’s for a short time and then went out on my own.”

After years of arranging salads, raw meat and vegetables for supermarket ads and fliers, Hart’s client roster grew along with her reputation to encompass a veritable who’s who of national and international clients. Executing both print and commercial advertising work for the likes of Coca-Cola, Häagen-Dazs, Kraft General Foods, Burger King, Miller Beer, Nestlé Food Company and Friskies Pet Care, she has also teamed up along the way with such industry photographers as Harry Chamberlain, E. K. Waller, Peggy Sirota and Ron Derhacopian as well as magazines like the Los Angeles Times Magazine and Bon Appétit.

With a James Beard Foundation Tastemaker Award nomination under her belt for her styling work on the cookbook True Thai (William Morrow) and another book on the way with Valentino restaurant owner Piero Selvaggio, Hart says she’s still never too busy to keep her eyes, on the prize. “We always eat with our eyes and that begins with the stylist,” she concludes. “This is a very visual market, and that’s what I’m all about.”

—Joel Newman