Why F1 racing is set to become the next big fashion show

CBC

03-05-2025

Formula One's fashion boom may be in full swing, but the two have gone hand in hand for decades — a pas de deux in the fast lane, if you will.
The late sixties saw the birth of a long-standing bond between F1 and luxury watchmaker Rolex. Likewise, those of a certain age will remember when Benetton not only offered up colourful preppy basics across malls, but served as a championship-winning F1 constructor — that is, one of the official teams that designs, builds and races its own cars.
And of course, there are the subversive Pirelli Calendars, which are trademarked as "The Cal." Since their release in 1964, the calendars have been produced by F1's exclusive tire partner, and are famed for enlisting fashion-industry royalty such as Vogue photographers and beloved supermodels.
These days, however, more fashion players than ever are racing for a spot on the circuit, brokering monumental deals with teams, athletes and the sport itself.
In October 2024, F1 signed a major 10-year global partnership with LVMH — a French luxury brands group known for maisons like Louis Vuitton, Moët Hennessy and Tag Heuer — for a reported $1 billion US. One of its first buzzy moves? Appointing Louis Vuitton as the title partner for the Australian Grand Prix, the 2025 season's kick-off racing event that took place this March.
It's a partnership that Toni Cowan-Brown, a San Francisco–based tech and F1 commentator, believes signals a new era of fashion in the highest echelon of motorsport. "These last 18 months feel like something that I don't think the sport has ever seen," she said in an interview with CBC Life.
The Rolex and Benetton periods of decades past? Mere snippets of what's to come on the circuit, paddock and beyond the track.
But how exactly did we get here? In 2017, F1 was bought by Liberty Media — a U.S. company with a portfolio that includes Sirius XM and Live Nation Entertainment — in an acquisition that U.K. sports culture journalist Daniel-Yaw Miller believes helped open up the relatively conservative sport to new audiences.
This deal, he says, is when personal style in the sport ramped up, with seven-time World Drivers' Championship–winner Lewis Hamilton leading the sartorial charge in the paddock, donning everything from Givenchy to Rick Owens. "We obviously saw [him] really expressing his own love of personal style and fashion: working with stylists, working with all these amazing brands like Burberry, Gucci and Valentino," said Miller.
Two years later, in 2019, the docuseries Formula 1: Drive to Survive began airing on Netflix after being pitched by Liberty Media, and subsequently gained a fervid fan base during the COVID-19 pandemic.
It was the perfect storm, said Cowan-Brown: the world was on lockdown, people were binge-watching the series, and turning to social media for community (and to chat about the luxe lives of F1 drivers). And brands started to take note.
To date, the most prominent sponsors with prime spots on the circuit and car liveries have been oil conglomerates, major banks and luxury watch brands. Miller says the lack of presence of big fashion names in F1 presented a "really exciting opportunity for [fashion brands] to attach themselves to a high-octane sport with mad, massive global superstars and a big global fan base."
Likewise, this newfound interest saw constructors thinking about the fashion brands they could team up with. One need not look further than Italian brand Palm Angels, which served as a sponsor for American F1 team Haas during the 2023 and 2024 seasons. London-based streetwear label Palace also joined forces with Kappa, providing French constructor Alpine with an exclusive livery and limited-edition merch run for the 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Household names historically tethered to the pinnacle of motorsport took note as well. In 2021, Ferrari raced on to the scene with the debut of its ready-to-wear line during Milan Fashion Week. For the Fall 2025 ready-to-wear collection, creative director Rocco Iannone dreamt up an edit featuring sharply tailored suits, masterfully crafted fur pieces, and denim and leather separates rendered in experimental treatments. Apt, given that 2025 marks Hamilton's inaugural year in red, driving for the iconic scuderia. Fellow teammate Charles Leclerc is also slated to drop a limited-edition capsule collection developed with Iannone ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix.
For British constructor McLaren, recent fashion forays include deals with a variety of retailers. On the higher end, there's its multi-year partnership with the quintessentially British brand Reiss — its latest drop including sumptuous suede bomber jackets and wool-and-cashmere varsity cardigans. For the more casual set, Abercrombie, Hollister and Levi's have offered up race day–friendly graphic tees, hoodies and jackets, all stamped with the papaya-orange McLaren insignia.
Sportswear giants, too, are fueling up for the excitement. New to the game is Adidas, which inked a multi-year partnership with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team at the start of the 2025. The pièce de résistance in the team's kit? The puffy silver space suit–esque jacket, donned regularly by drivers George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli, which has birthed endless memes and is the talk of the paddock. (Mercedes also hired its first team stylist and partnerships manager this year.)
Stefano Favaro, Puma's global creative director for teamsport and motorsport, definitely sees the hype surrounding F1 at the moment. In January, the brand launched its Puma for Scuderia Ferrari HP Collection, a more fashion-forward lineup blending elements of tradition with innovation. Puma also released a special collab with F1 in celebration of the sport's 75th anniversary. "Racing is becoming [an] integral part of fashion and a sort of 'place to be,' therefore we are having much more attention on what we deliver," he said.
For the Ferrari collection in particular, Favaro explored new fabric mixes, revisited retro garment fits and ensured pieces aligned with what's trending in the fashion space. It was Ferrari's rich history that served as the foremost influence in the collection, but Favaro said that both Hamilton and his teammate (and Puma ambassador) Leclerc, and their respective styles, also played a role in informing the lineup. "Those personalities are key for Ferrari's — and our — success."
There's no denying the bargaining power athletes themselves possess. Take, for example, pilots Pierre Gasly and Zhou Guanyu, who are often spotted sitting front-row during fashion week. There is also Hamilton's role as brand ambassador for both Dior — where he'll drop his second guest-designer capsule collection this summer — and Lululemon. "Beyond his racing prowess, Lewis has emerged as a style leader recognized for his bold fashion choices and influence in the world of design," the Canadian sportswear behemoth stated in a press release.
"In this day and age in sport, we're realizing how powerful the athletes are as fashion icons," said Cowan-Brown. Case in point: the Instagram account Data But Make It Fashion cheekily dubbed this winter's increase in the popularity of red in fashion the "Lewis Hamilton effect."
But Cowan-Brown points out that influence extends beyond the athletes: "It's also about their companions, whether that's their wives, their girlfriends, their partners, you name it." Think Leclerc's partner, Alexandra Saint Mleux, who has recently starred in a Rhode social campaign and co-hosted a Nina Ricci fragrance launch.
Needless to say, brands are clearly gearing up to race into the league. After all, as Cowan-Brown says, F1 cars are "the fastest billboards in the world." And with the 2025 season currently underway, she expects to see LVMH's brands front and centre, on and off the paddock. Miller also anticipates more drivers will follow Hamilton's lead and explore the world of fashion more actively.
For Puma, Favaro says the brand will be releasing a special collection with Ferrari during the Las Vegas Grand Prix in November, as well as a heritage-inspired drop during the season. "[It's] probably one of the most beautiful we have done with Ferrari, with new authentic pieces, new colours, special graphics," he said.
In the meantime, Hamilton fans and fashion lovers alike await the first Monday in May, when the esteemed Met Gala takes place in New York. It's an event Hamilton first attended in 2015, but this year, he will be co-chairing alongside Colman Domingo, A$AP Rocky, Pharrell Williams and Anna Wintour. LeBron James will also serve as honourary chair.
For those who love glitz, glamour and, of course, fashion, now's a great time — if not the best yet — to dial in to Formula One.
While Miller believes the sport is still developing and modernizing, he's confident that this year will be the biggest for the convergence of fashion in F1. "Plus, [it's] the first year of Lewis Hamilton, Formula One's fashion kid, in Ferrari — a notoriously stylish and elegant team with lots of connotations to luxury. I think there will definitely be lots of big crossovers this year, for sure."