In the driving seat: fashion's motorheads

“It’s a collaboration of passions really, not of logos,” says Isabel Ettedgui of her latest project, Goodwood & Connolly. Issued in limited numbers, the collection celebrates British motor racing and Lord ‘Freddie’ March, the Bentley-trained mechanic (and ninth Duke of Richmond), who set up the Goodwood Motor Circuit after the second world war. He subsequently triumphed as a driver in competitions including the Brooklands Double 12 Race.

“It’s a racing wardrobe that would work well with a classic Jaguar and with a very fast new car,” says Ettedgui.

Mindful of Connolly’s own motoring heritage - for over a century, the business has supplied Bentley, Rolls-Royce and Jaguar with specialist leather upholstery - Ettedgui first added driving gloves, car shoes and cashmere knits to the house’s catalogue in the mid-90s. Her latest offering, devised in partnership with Charles Henry Gordon-Lennox, the 11th Duke of Richmond, is predominantly finished in Italian factories. There are racing overalls (below), trench-coats and cashmere jumpers as well as T-shirts emblazoned with Pit Signals first sketched by Lord March.

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Ettedgui is a proponent of discreet sportswear, emphasising supple tailoring and prestige materials above overt branding. “It’s in the cuts, in the fabrics, in the linings,” she says.

Motorheads have more smart options to choose from at Byredo, as the brand’s creative director Ben Gorham debuts a capsule collection of clothing, including chore jackets, T-shirts and accessories designed to celebrate the publication of Craig McDean Manual. Spread across 200 pages, the book collates McDean’s photographs of racers and top models.

“Craig has a Ferrari Dino - I think it’s from the ’70s - which I would love to drive,” says Gorham of his friend’s wheels. McDean counts Dior, Calvin Klein and Gucci among his clients. His fascination with cars is deep-rooted, too: growing up in Middlewich, England he trained and worked as a car mechanic.