Louis Vuitton and Singer have reimagined two Porsche 911s
A saffron coupé, a white cabriolet by Nicolas Ghesquière and a detachable Tambour clock in the dashboard. The House’s first ever co-branded object is a car.
Louis Vuitton has spent aot of time designing things to put in cars, or to dress the people driving them. . This week, it’s their turn to design the car itself. The House has unveiled two Porsche 911s reimagined by Singer, the Californian atelier known for its obsessive air-cooled restorations, presented at Pebble Beach as part of Monterey Car Week. It is the first co-branded creation in Louis Vuitton’s history, and a first for Singer too.
It all began w a with a clock. Singer asked La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton to make a dashboard timepiece, and the brief kept expanding until every functional element of the vehicle was on the table. “It quickly became apparent to us that this collaboration with Singer could extend to the personalisation of every functional element of the vehicle,” says Jean Arnault, Louis Vuitton’s Watch Director. The finished clock is detachable, mechanical, inspired by the Tambour and engraved with the twelve letters of the House name on its bezel. It lifts out of the dash and becomes a desk clock with an eight day power reserve. Redesigning the instrument display around it took a year.
The first car, a Porsche 911 Reimagined by Singer Classic, wears saffron bodywork with cobalt blue and yellow, a colour trio pulled from the archive and from Bahama Yellow, the hue attached to Singer’s earliest commissions. It sits on cobalt blue demonstration tyres, borrowed from the blue of the House’s packaging ribbons, and the rear engine air intake grille hides a geometric L and V. Underneath is a 964 chassis, a 4.0 litre naturally aspirated flat six, a six speed manual and carbon ceramic brakes. The roof rack takes a trunk, a pair of skis or a Monogram marquetry surfboard in blond oak and walnut.
Its counterpart is a Classic Turbo cabriolet conceived by Nicolas Ghesquière, finished in Calcaire Lutétien white with precious wood trim and a leather cabin that reads more classic motorboat than race car. “Automotive design is a passion that has always lived within me,” Ghesquière says.
Both come dressed. The accompanying capsule is cut from Millésime leather in the same tones as the upholstery and runs to a Bisten 80 trunk, a Keepall 50, two front trunk bags shaped to nest in the nose of the car, a 1950s style helmet bag, a perforated racing jacket, driving gloves and a carbon and glass fibre jet helmet with a riveted calfskin peak.
Credits:
Images courtesy of Louis Vuitton
Words: Roisin Teeling @roisinteeling
LouisVuitton.com
