Runway Meets Raceway: Fashion's New Auto Obsession

Elle

26-06-2025

Fashion has long been fascinated with cars—and that obsession isn't slowing down anytime soon. Lately, you may have noticed a wave of high-end collaborations hitting the mainstream. There's Alice + Olivia's new linkup with Ford Bronco, Aimé Leon Dore's multi-part partnership with Porsche, and Tommy Hilfiger's costuming for the upcoming F1 film starring Brad Pitt and Damson Idris—not to mention the latter's official apparel partnership with the Cadillac racing team. The relationship between fashion and the auto industry has always existed, but now it's finally having a full-throttle moment in the spotlight.
Luxury brands have long held a love affair with motorsport style. The '70s saw a surge of designer-automaker partnerships, from Pierre Cardin's collaboration with Sbarro to Gucci's sleek customization of the Cadillac Seville—and even the ultra-luxe pairing of Cartier and Lincoln. But these connections weren't limited to the open road; the runways were tuned in, too. For his spring 1992 collection, 'Les Cowboys,' Thierry Mugler shook the industry with his now-iconic motorcycle bustier—complete with leather straps, side mirrors, and all. Decades later, in 2015, Jeremy Scott brought his signature whimsy to the trend, staging a bubble-filled, carwash-meets-catwalk spectacle for Moschino's women's ready-to-wear show in Milan and unveiling a motorcycle-inspired menswear collection at Pitti Uomo.
More recently, the sudden widespread popularity of Formula 1—fueled in part by its reigning style icon and vocal arts advocate Lewis Hamilton—has pushed luxury brands even deeper into the fast lane. In 2023, Chanel went viral with a Grand Prix-inspired graphic T-shirt from its cruise collection, sending F1 fans and fashion influencers alike scrambling to track down the $4,450 piece.
For a designer like Hilfiger, racing has always captured the essence of effortless American style—classic iconography with a sharp, technical edge. So partnering with Cadillac on its official team kit felt like a natural synergy. 'Our ambition is to create fanwear that's expressive, elevated, and deeply rooted in American style—one vision to shape the next era of race-inspired dressing,' he tells ELLE.
Hilfiger also views motorsport as a fresh avenue for fashion to connect across industries, redefining style in new contexts and tapping into the rising 'fashiontainment' trend. He explains, 'Motorsport today is so much more than racing—it's a global cultural movement at the intersection of sport, fashion, entertainment, and innovation. That's where we thrive. As the lines between sport and style continue to blur, the opportunity in this space is limitless.'
Other brands are making moves beyond Formula 1, too. Alice + Olivia partnered with Bronco for an exclusive capsule collection that flips the traditionally masculine auto aesthetic on its head—echoing Sydney Sweeney's 2022 journey of rebuilding her 1969 Bronco. 'As a designer, founder, and mother of three daughters, I'm always thinking about how we create space for women—not just in fashion, but in business and culture,' Stacey Bendet, founder and CEO of Alice + Olivia, tells ELLE. 'The Bronco has long stood for freedom and power, but those stories were almost always told through a masculine lens. I wanted to flip that [narrative], to show that women not only belong in that narrative—they can own it.'
Whether you credit motorsport's current moment to the return of the yuppie aesthetic, the rise of previously niche sports like F1, or summer's enduring love for classic American sportswear, one thing is clear: racing-inspired style is here to stay.