The connections between streetwear and car culture are undeniable. The instant visual signifiers of taste via logos, the one-upmanship, and the desire to collect rare, hard-to-find things. Beyond that, there’s the fact that both cars and clothes can be aesthetic extensions of their owners. The guy who loves vintage Patagonia fleeces and J80 Land Cruisers evokes different sensibilities than the man who rocks Saint Laurent and drives a Lamborghini Urus. With the right combination of passion and taste, automotive and fashion can ascend to the level of art.
Period Correct
Bryan Calvero, who founded the car-inspired label Period Correct (itself a reference to the various parts and pieces of a certain model) in 2013, puts it simply: “If you like good design, you’ll like cars.” He calls cars “the best form of art,” and in 2018.
Bryan Calvero
Calvero represents the guy who’s a fan of both worlds and demonstrates how loving style and cars can spawn out of a similar sensibility.
Mclaren x Period Correct
he collaborated with McLaren on a collection to honour the brand’s F1, which debuted in 1993 and held the record for the fastest production car in the world for over a decade.
Aime Leon Dore
On the other hand, Aimé Leon Dore, which in February 2020 collaborated with Porsche on both a capsule collection and a one-off, Loro Piana and Schott leather-lined 964 Carrera 4, is a 2020 update to the kind of 360-degree brand experience that Ralph Lauren ushered in.
Different brands, different perspectives...
While ALD’s taste level is arguably unmatched, it allows its customers to buy into its love of cars without expecting them to drop $100,000 on a vintage car, but rather through an embroidered logo on a coach jacket or a T-shirt that gets right to the point, i.e. “Porsche / Aime Leon Dore / 964 Carrera 4.”
Aime Leon Dore x Porsche
Despite the quick-hit nature of a T-shirt with a manufacturer’s logo, being a label that references cars in 2020 doesn’t necessarily translate to the simple formula of automaker logo plus garment equals hype.
Few more words...
Ultimately, what connects fashion and cars boils down to some combination of yearning for the past, engineering interest, and cars’ potent ability to do a lot of a brand’s world-building for it. How would it be if we create a 9caars Original clothing brand, maybe some collaborations... Comment below your thoughts. Also, let us know if you like the concept, so we'll keep flooring it..
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