Too-Sexy BMW on the Catwalk at NY Fashion Week
New York Fashion Week 2021, which oddly enough begins today and ends tomorrow, marks the return of BMW of North America to the catwalk. BMW rejoins Fashion Week, a celebration of fashion, culture, design, and economic development.
This year, BMW chose to collaborate with acclaimed women’s fashion designer, LaQuan Smith, on a custom-content series. Smith, a celebrated designer with an A-list clientele that includes Beyonce, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, and Kim Kardashian, is known in haute couture as something of a risk-taker, definitely not a negative for a car company like BMW, with vehicles that inspire spirited performance.
“Over the past two years, New York Fashion Week has become an important platform for BMW, one on which we can not only showcase, but also celebrate the diversity and inclusivity of the fashion community,” said Uwe Dreher, vice president of marketing, BMW of North America. “The connection between high fashion and a premium automotive company such as BMW extends beyond design and style to include a spirit of innovation and performance.”
Designers in the automotive and fashion worlds are sometimes daring, provocative, and innovative. This series is meant to show how both require patience, persistence, and veracity. Outside the rarified world of fashion designers and their well-heeled clients, we may not understand the aesthetic or the more bizarre examples that end up in the news, but we can appreciate the effort and originality required to stand out.
BMW has chosen to back LaQuan in this year’s Fashion Week to showcase his work, and that of their own X5 M and X7 sports activity vehicles. In previous years, other automakers have used Fashion Week to not only display their vehicles, but to shuttle VIPs and their guests from nearby hotels to the show, providing them with an introduction, albeit brief, to the brand.
“I am thrilled to partner with BMW of North America on this special content series,” said LaQuan Smith. “There has been a synergy between the brands from the onset, which has highlighted the parallels of luxury craft and design between the fashion and automotive industries, as both have continued to innovate and persevere through these challenging times.”
A supporter of the arts and culture in the Big Apple, BMW’s partnership with Fashion Week is one way to reach audiences that may be unfamiliar with the German automaker. This approach, while not unique among carmakers, is still a good promotional platform.
[Images: BMW]
With a father who owned a dealership, I literally grew up in the business. After college, I worked for GM, Nissan and Mazda, writing articles for automotive enthusiast magazines as a side gig. I discovered you could make a living selling ad space at Four Wheeler magazine, before I moved on to selling TV for the National Hot Rod Association. After that, I started Roadhouse, a marketing, advertising and PR firm dedicated to the automotive, outdoor/apparel, and entertainment industries. Through the years, I continued writing, shooting, and editing. It keep things interesting.
More by Jason R. Sakurai
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Snark or no snark, press release or none.....: Those who can (build ultimate, or even competitive, driving machines), do. While those who no longer can, are the ones desperately attempting to obfuscate their shortcomings, by casting about doing all manners of dumb stuff instead.
Right here is where BMW lost its' way.....the Ultimate Fashion Machine. We don't care. Fix the steering.