A BRIEF HISTORY OF FASHION’S LOVE AFFAIR WITH CARS
FLANNELS THINKS:
The open road. The start of something new. A whole life ahead of you. Life is, indeed, a highway. Since the dawn of time, or rather, the birth of pop culture (and really, what’s the difference?) cars, fashion and culture have been inextricably linked.
Case in point? James Dean gazing up at Natalie Wood from behind a car door in A Rebel Without A Cause. Audrey Hepburn in a black cab, checking her lipstick in a compact mirror on the set of Sabrina. Biggie Smalls reclining in a red convertible on the set of the Hypnotize music video. Kim Kardashian in the back seat, taking pictures of herself with a silver digital camera as, ‘her sister is going to jail’. The halls of pop culture are filled with iconic moments where fashion and cars have overlapped: cars have been the backdrop, the setting, the side character to fashion’s main, the open door to the defining moments of pop culture.
From the golden age of Hollywood to the most iconic moments in cinema to influencing the biggest designers in the world (and the most recent FLANNELS campaign), cars are to fashion what muses are to music: a freeway of inspiration. We’re taking a trip down a metaphorical road, charting the relationship between cars and fashion and the making of some of the biggest moments in pop culture.
The first motor car was invented way, way back in the autumn of 1885. And, needless to say, it’s been a proverbial long road for the development of the car. At the dawn of the 20th century, cars started to circulate more widely, but it was during the Golden Age of Hollywood that cars really became a fixture of the pop culture lexicon. Cars are, and always have been, associated with wealth, fame and success. And the Golden Age of Hollywood epitomized this. For everyone from Elvis Presley to James Dean and American presidents, cars were a symbol of status.
But there’s one such figure who became entirely intertwined with cars and fashion: the Hollywood starlet. Marilyn Monroe looks over her shoulder, driving on the set of the film The Misfits. Bridgette Bardot sits, barefoot, on top of a white convertible. In Breakfast at Tiffany’s (which is still one of the most fashionable films, 60 years after its release) Audrey Hepburn howls at George Peppard in the back of a New York City taxi: “People don’t belong to people”. Sure, the world has long associated fast cars with men and masculine identities. But as far as fashion is concerned? Women were always the ones driving that relationship.
Why the fascination between women and cars you ask? Cars were symbolic of the road toward freedom. The Golden Age of Hollywood spanned 40 years and said 40 years were ones where women didn’t have a whole lot of freedom to work with. So it makes sense, that the ingénues of these eras, sitting in ultra-glamorous cars, with seemingly total control, would be intoxicating. These women, these pictures, these cars, represented a dawning of a new age. And an opportunity. One where you could drive toward a better tomorrow.
As the decades rolled on, times changed. But fashion’s obsession with cars didn’t. In fact, the relationship was just getting started. By the 1990s, the relationship between cars and fashion was solidified, as each acted as a muse for the other. Case in point? The high-voltage fashion of Thierry Mugler. The most iconic of which was his AW89 collection, which charted the relationship between clothing and automobiles. Mugler crafted pieces made from literal cars. He shot models in junk yards, lying across broken-down vehicles. He crafted a bustier made from a Buick car. This look would go down in history, as it was featured in George Michael’s music video for the single ‘Too Funky’. He later returned to the muse for his SS92 collection titled Cowboys From The Future, where he debuted another auto-inspired bustier complete with handlebars and a rear-view mirror.
Cars are a gold mine of inspiration across every sphere of culture. But one of the most notable? Is cinema. Harking back to the Golden Age of Hollywood, cinema has always provided a foundation for iconic moments across fashion and cars. Read: The Great Gatsby, The Fast And The Furious series, Batman - the list goes on. But there are a few films that have epitomised the relationship between fashion, cars and cinema itself.
Cars bring drama. Just like fashion does. Think Thelma and Louise, fast-paced, high-stakes and intense. Cars provide a backdrop for iconic pop-culture moments. Case in point? The endless archive of Quentin Tarantino. From Pulp Fiction to Kill Bill, Tarantino’s quintessentially American films are often, if not always, set to the backdrop of big, bold cars. Think Uma Thurman alongside John Travolta, bloody and dishevelled in a red convertible in Pulp Fiction or Uma Thurman speeding down the highway in that yellow truck from Kill Bill. And it didn’t stop at the movies either. In season one of Sex and The City, the gang pile into a convertible, decked out in leather jackets, sunglasses and headscarves, as Samantha holds up the car keys, uttering the immortal words: “Does anybody know how to drive?” and let’s just say, it lives rent free in our minds.
And the drive to define pop culture just kept accelerating. In the 1990s, fashion photography was entering a new era and cars continued to infiltrate the fashion world. In 1992, a then unknown Kate Moss was photographed by Stephanie Pfriender Stylander, slouching in the back seat of a car. Her eyes were heavily outlined in Kohl, her legs in fishnet tights and her hair in ruffles as she gazes at the camera, already every bit the supermodel. Teenage and angelic, she’s also pictured standing on the side of a freeway, cars whizzing past. Jurgen Teller followed similar inspirations. For his, now iconic, ‘Go-Sees’ series he shot Gisele Bunchden sitting on the hood of a car, scowling.
And the history keeps getting richer. Back in 2013, Givenchy, then under the creative direction of Riccardo Tisci, staged their SS14 show around a literal car crash. Tisci staged a smoking pileup of vintage cars at the centre of the runway. Models walked around the wreckage, which could be symbolizing so many things, but it’s proof of one: fashion’s fascination with cars is going nowhere.
As of late, the relationship between fashion and cars has witnessed an intense increase in momentum, thanks in no small part to the rise of the motorcore trend. At the SS23 shows, the need for speed was palpable. Everyone from David Koma and 16Arlington to Tom Ford and Prada were showing moto-inspired looks. Think heavy-metal hitters, big dirty biker jackets and stompy clompy boots. The FW23 shows were no different, as the moto trend picked up speed becoming one of the biggest of the season. Over at Gucci, there were a multitude of racing-inspired fits. Think padded trousers and biker jackets that would make just as much sense on the racetrack as they do on the runway. And at Jil Sander, the trend accelerated further. The FW23 show opened with a branded moto look, complete with leather-jacket-and-trouser ensemble that just as easily been worn by John Travolta in the 1970s as they were by a supermodel in the 2020s.
It seems that every area of culture is fascinated with cars, with fashion remaining firmly at the helm. The reason? Maybe it’s a door. A doorway to an open road, to potential, to go somewhere different. Cars and fashion sit together in culture, as a pair, they’re endlessly intertwined.
The latest addition to the highway of fame? Yours truly. As we head into the new season, we’re heading onto the road – in spirit at least. For our latest campaign, we brought in our very own FLANNELS automobile (complete with a personalised number plate, of course). The inspiration? Classic, high-energy, dreamy road trips. With a new season on the horizon, we’re transitioning – quite literally – from summer into autumn. And the looks taking us there? Ultra-loud, eye-wateringly bright, barely-there styles.
Whether you’re taking a journey through the review mirror or sharing stories in the backseat, this season, we’re bringing to life the dreams you find on the road. All you need to do now? Jump in the passenger seat. It’s going to be a wild ride.