AlphaTauri
Endorsements in the rag trade are more often about style over substance, but Austrian label AlphaTauri manages to deliver on both. As the fashion arm of the Red Bull empire, it not only dresses F1 maestros Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda from its own in-house racing team, Scuderia AlphaTauri, but has also designed a capsule for its Red Bull checkerboard champ, Max Verstappen.
It lab-develops and patents cutting-edge materials such as TAUROBRAN, formed using a weaving technique that utilises electrical charges to produce an ultra-fine, waterproof and breathable cloth that feels more like a second skin. Put on this kit and you’ll feel every inch the alpha male.
More details at AlphaTauri.
Connolly Driving Collection
Mayfair-based Connolly might have started life as a saddle maker in 1878, but in the 20th century, the atelier shifted focus from four legs to four wheels, when it began furnishing saloon interiors for Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Jaguar and Aston Martin. Today, the lifestyle brand has applied its nous in fine leatherwork and draping to its driving collection: a range of uncompromisingly luxurious apparel and accessories that captures the daring-do spirit of the golden age of motoring. So, even if you don’t have a 1926 supercharged Bentley in the garage, you can still look like you belong at Brooklands.
More details at Connolly England.
Car Shoe
The driving shoe is imitated by many a copycat cobbler today, but its footprint was born on the workbench of Gianni Mostile, who patented the design back in 1963. His idea had practical grounding: the shoe’s nubbly leather base – or ‘gommino’ in the lingua franca of its creator – was designed to give motorists a firm grip on their pedals.
Mostile also founded Car Shoe – the original purveyor of the style – now under the fashionable umbrella of the Prada Group. For SS22, we’re gunning for this jazzy camo pair of driving loafers (£520) – they’re just the thing for living la dolce vita behind the wheel of a Bugatti.
Car Shoe Camouflage Driving loafers (£520) available here, more details at Car Shoe.
Ferrari x Rocco Iannone
Filippo Fior/Imaxtree.com
Automotive apparel is usually best left at the factory gift shop, but you can forget about five-dollar keyrings and caps with Ferrari’s latest sartorial venture – this is bona fide high-end clobber. The collection, designed by Rocco Iannone – an alumnus of Giorgio Armani and Dolce & Gabbana – is, as you’d expect, full of references to Italy’s most exalted speedster, from the more obvious lashings of logos and signature Corso red, to the less obvious use of modern automotive materials, including carbon fibre. The 52-piece collection of statement outerwear and casual separates has a bravado that speaks the language of the world’s foremost supercar in a distinctly sports luxe accent.
More details at Ferrari.
Belstaff
Any chap worth his hell-for leather salt will have Belstaff on his style agenda. Since 1924, the brand has been dressing Johnny Strabbler-types in rugged leathers and performance outerwear that make road-worthy companions for life. This season, although the café scrambler classics remain, the label has taken a softer approach with tactile suedes, pastel-hued performance memory shells and GORE-TEX jackets inspired by the great outdoors, like the Suede Drover Jacket (£1,295), which are ideal for the urban guy on the go.
Belstaff Suede Drover Jacket (£1,295) available here, more details at Belstaff.
Parajumpers
Alaska’s 210th Rescue Squadron responds to SOS calls in some of the most inhospitable locales in the world and it was an encounter with one of its heroic recruits that inspired Massimo Rosetti to start a label that can handle Mother Nature’s uglier side. Aptly named Parajumpers – a moniker for the fast-moving elite force – its technical down-filled puffers, hybrid jackets and sporty base layers are designed with the squad’s on-job challenges in mind, but have more style credibility than anything you’ll find back in boot camp.
More details at Parajumpers.
