THE AUTOMOTIVE & FASHION INDUSTRY: High-Octane Synergy

With the passing of time, the two fields have evolved from being solutions for humanity and everyday living — clothing for warmth and protection, vehicles for transportation — to something far beyond just necessity, serving as fields for the pursuit of innovation and self-expression. This mutuality is something that’s both abstract and physical, having manifested itself in many ways throughout the years. Whether it's direct collaborations between esteemed brands from both fields, or people using vehicles and outfits as canvas for expressing individuality, the synergy between fashion and the automotive world is something that’s long lasting and deep rooted.

To mark the launch of END. and Dickies latest collaborative collection, titled ”Motorworks”, END. takes a look at the ways in which the automotive and fashion worlds have intertwined.

Stüssy is a label that has regularly crossed over into the automotive world, the milieu of its home city, LA, being a driving force behind this. For decades, car culture has excitedly pulsated throughout LA, its serene coastlines and driving-focused infrastructure all catering to a mutual love of cars. Naturally, Stüssy and its team are a product of this environment, the threads of which are visibly woven throughout the brand's campaigns and partnerships.  

Stüssy’s Summer ’18 campaign was the perfect reflection of this immersion in LA’s car culture, with Evan Clark racing at the California Auto Club Speedway in a 1998 race-spec BMW E36 M3 — complete in a custom, green and white Stüssy livery. Earlier this year, Stüssy further compounded its love of car culture by linking up with British designer Martine Rose, where the two created a collection centred around the art of driving. The partnership comprised of car accessories and apparel, representing a natural extension of both brands and their heavy immersion in subcultural movements. This was something reflected in not just the product but the collection’s visuals, which tapped into the UK’s love of tuning culture through the inclusion of Japanese automotive icons, ranging from a Nissan GT-R R35 to a modified Toyota AE86.

The automotive as artistic spectacle is nothing new in either the world of art or fashion, with the likes of Erwin Wurm’s Renault 25, Dirk Skreber’s crashed cars and even Ricardo Tisci with Givenchy’s SS’14 collection all utilising vehicles — albeit in heavily modified forms — to shock and artistically engage with viewers. Moncler is a brand that has never shied away from the spectacle, especially when it comes to its ceaselessly innovative, boundary-pushing events. At Moncler’s The Art of Genius event last year, the brand partnered with Mercedes-Benz to create Project Mondo G: a hyper-innovative art piece that fused their respective design languages. The vehicle of choice was Mercedes’ G Wagon, its iconic, rugged design altered using an exaggerated roof and wheels, which were inflated and baffled to mimic Moncler’s famous puffer jackets. It represented a coming together of two worlds steeped in both luxury and utility, reflected in the vehicle itself through contrasting elements that referenced this — the patina of paint to reflect utility, high-gloss to reference luxury.  

But this wasn’t the first time Mercedes’ G Wagon had entered the realm of fashion, with Project Geländewagen arriving in 2020: the special project between the late Virgil Abloh and Mercedes’ Chief Design Officer Gorden Wagener. The car was essentially a stripped-down, race-focused take on the G Wagon, recontextualising it from its utilitarian and — in later life — luxurious origins. Its ride height was dramatically lowered, its wing mirrors removed and its interior stripped out and race prepared — including DTM race car seats and a roll cage. Its paint, meanwhile, was grey and sanded down, mirroring the primer coating often applied to cars to reference imperfection — the overall aim being to challenge automotive and design conventionality.    

This relationship with Mercedes and Virgil Abloh was one that blossomed further, with the creative luminary and Gorden Wagener reuniting for an additional special project under Mercedes’ ultra-luxurious sub brand, Maybach. The partnership was titled Project Maybach, comprised of a one-of-a-kind electric show car, designed to move the luxury brand away from its inner-city environments and into the great outdoors. The result was a striking, six metres long off-road coupe, defined by its hulking, angular lines, external roll cage and bolted arches. This then further developed into a production vehicle, with 150 Virgil Abloh co-designed S 680s entering the market. This mirrored the same tan and black colour scheme of Project Maybach, as well as custom co-branding worked into the car’s centre console. Ultimately, this was just another example of the creative brilliance of Virgil Abloh, one that was driven by fearless curiosity for experimentation.  

When you think of Lamborghini in the modern era, you’d be forgiven if the first cars that came to mind were the Urus or the Huracán. After all, they have been instrumental in the contemporary success of Lamborghini, with the first half of this year seeing record sales led by the Urus and followed shortly after by the Huracán. For many, however, the true embodiment of what Lamborghini means is encapsulated by its flagship supercars, symbolising the drama, emotion and outright speed synonymous with the brand’s name. The Lamborghini Murcielago, which released back in 2001 ushering a new era of Audi-helmed Lamborghini, is one of those cars: a raucous, V12-engined symbol of opulence and extravagance. It’s those very words, opulence and extravagance, which represent pillars of the Versace brand, making the car the perfect canvas for the fashion house’s 2006 partnership with Lamborghini. The result was a limited run of 20 bespoke cars, with each one tweaked through the lens of Versace. The fashion house’s iconic codes were worked into the car’s interior and — on some iterations — exterior, with everything from its Medusa head worked into its paint to the Greca motif stitched into the leather. 

Daniel Arsham is an artist with a deep affinity for the automotive world, his ongoing partnership and love of Porsche standing as testimony to that. Earlier this year, Arsham furthered his partnership with Porsche by bringing Stone Island on board, creating a customised Safari Porsche 930 and a Unimog 404. The Safari Porsche was built by Leh Keen using an ’86 911 Turbo as the base, which was fully customised to a rally specification using many original pieces from the ‘80s, including an external, co-branded light pod, heightened suspension and off-road tyres. The collaboration also included a customised Unimog U404 — serving as a recovery vehicle for the Safari 930 — which featured a bespoke tarpaulin made using Stone Island’s founding fabric, Tela Stella. The interior of both vehicles featured heavy overtones of Stone Island, with green, mottled fabric achieved through the brand’s signature dyeing treatments.

Much like most car enthusiasts, the story of Arthur Kar’s automotive love can be traced back to his earlier years. It was here, spending time working in his father’s garage in Lebanon and becoming a Porsche mechanic at the age of 16, that the foundations for his later automotive ventures were laid. His business L'Art de L'automobile serves as part prestige car sales, part clothing brand, sitting perfectly at the crossroads where fashion and cars combine. It’s this unique space that allows Arthur Kar to delve deep into two of his passions, manifesting itself in projects that bridge the gap between the two. Porsche and L’Art de L’Automobile’s 2021 collaboration is the embodiment of this deep-rooted passion and cross pollination, comprised of a custom Porsche 968 and an accompanying apparel collection.

It’s this mutual exchange and deep-rooted synergy that underpins END. and Dickies’ latest partnership, titled “Motorworks”, with an apparel collection that taps into the American brand’s rich heritage and offers a celebration of workwear as a necessity for the automotive world.