The Paris Motor Show’s Tribute to Cars and Fashion of Yesterday

Photography by Markus Haub

In addition to the litany of usual new cars, this year’s Paris Motor Show hosted an exhibition honoring the “Cars and Fashion” of yesteryears. Featuring fifty different vehicles, the visitor is taken on a wonderful journey through the decades seeing both their automotive and fashion legacies.

The exhibit follows the timeline of the car’s development and follows the history of the automobile from the end of the Industrial Revolution through today. Included are cars like the first Panhard and Ford Model T to the stars of countless concours d’elegance such as the Voisin Aerosport. Post-war icons such as the Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing, Facel Vega HK II, and Citroën DS19 were included as were icons of the Pop-Art years. The exhibition even included performance-era pocket rockets like the Peugeot 205 GTI and Citroën CX GTI Turbo.

Modern cars showcased were focused squarely on collaborations between fashion designers and the auto industry with cars such as the Peugeot HX1, Mini Paul Smith, and Seat Mii by Mango. The imagery was enhanced by large-framed pictures shot by legendary fashion photographers Henry Clarke, Robert Doisneau, Helmut Newton, Peter Knapp, Jean-Daniel Lorieux, and Peter Lindbergh as well as vintage pictures produced by the original manufacturers (advertisements or catalog extracts), which could pass for fashion photography themselves.

Not only are production cars included, but also one-offs from the eras that are rarely, if ever, seen in public. Concepts like the Bertone Carabo and Maserati Boomerang by Italdesign take center stage along with the Renault Talisman, Avantime, and DeZir. The exhibit ended two days ago, so if you didn’t catch it this is your chance to see what you missed…

If you’d like to see more, click here.