Design Language of the Driver

Step inside a car and you’re not just sitting in a machine, you’re stepping into a tailored environment. The way a cabin looks, feels, and even smells says as much about the driver as the jacket on their shoulders or the watch on their wrist. Automotive design has always been in conversation with fashion, both industries obsessed with material, silhouette, and the subtle codes of taste.

Consider the houndstooth seat inserts of 1960s Porsches, the same pattern that walked Paris runways on Chanel skirts and Savile Row suits. Or the hypnotic Pasha fabric of the 1980s 911s, a bold black-and-white tessellation that feels as daring as a Memphis Group print. Slide into a bucket seat wrapped in that, and you’re not just driving, you’re wearing the car.

Even the classic diamond stitching on leather seats mirrors the quilted liners of heritage bomber jackets. These weren’t incidental details. They were design languages carried across disciplines, bridging the space between the car you drove and the way you dressed.

Exteriors spoke the same dialect. The rich oxblood red of a Jaguar E-Type wasn’t far from the leather loafers men slipped into for a night out. The deep British Racing Green of an Aston Martin DB5 found its echo in tweeds and hunting jackets. Even chrome trim was jewelry: cufflinks for machines.

Drivers, of course, developed their own uniforms. Steve McQueen in Persol sunglasses, James Hunt with his open-chested shirts, Jackie Stewart in his tartan cap. Their wardrobes were extensions of their cockpits, and the cars became part of the outfit. Step into a 1970s 911 in corduroy trousers and a leather bomber, and suddenly you’re not just moving through space, you’re inhabiting a style.

And the accessories, the aviators tossed on the dash, the Daytona chronographs strapped to wrists, the monogrammed keychains still resonate. These objects endure long after the cars themselves, tokens of a language that never went out of fashion.

At Crosby, we study these details not as nostalgia, but as inspiration. The houndstooth, the Pasha, the diamond stitch, these aren’t just relics, they’re reminders of how deeply design and lifestyle are intertwined. Every build we undertake is informed by this history, not just in how we restore cars, but in how we think about culture. Because to us, driving has always been about more than horsepower. It’s about identity, taste, and the timeless design language of the driver.