How Designed to Race: Front Row reimagined McLaren on the runway – presented by Dell Technologies

Fashion has long been overlooked as an art form, but perceptions are shifting. Style has never been more influential, and McLaren is carving out a fashion formula of its own.

On a warm September evening, the McLaren Technology Centre embraced the true spirit of Fashion Week season, swapping cars for couture. Forty-six young designers presented their handcrafted pieces to a captivated crowd, reimagining McLaren’s 60-year history through 12 bespoke looks.

Designed to Race: Front Row was a collaboration between McLaren and Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London. Supported by Dell Technologies as innovation partner, the show challenges how fashion and Formula 1 typically combine, using technology to turn McLaren’s history into art rather than a livery, helmet, or merchandise collection.

The MA fashion students were split into 12 working groups, each tasked with exploring an era of McLaren to create unique looks that define the past, present, and future of our fashion identity.

According to Fabio Piras, Course Leader for MA Fashion at Central Saint Martins, it was a no-brainer for the students to accept the proposal to work with McLaren.

“We didn't need to convince the students to be part of this,” Fabio says. “It was a full house to start with, because it's fascinating - it's a sport with huge attention right now, and there's a real connection there.

"It's always important to connect with projects outside of fashion. Good ideas in fashion become interesting when you branch out into other things. In fashion history, some of the most exciting things come from that kind of association."

The cohort of students visited the McLaren factory at the start of the project and were struck by inspiration, whether it was James Hunt’s toe-less boots or the idea of creating a piece based on a racing circuit.

“The brief was interesting because it wasn't just asking us to design a piece of fashion or an outfit, it was an interpretation of a period, of an era, of a character,” Fabio says.

There were varying approaches between the groups, with some designers drawing on McLaren’s English heritage through British yarns and knitted patterns such as tartan, while others focused on the more technical aspects of Formula 1.

Each student received a new XPS laptop from Dell Technologies, which helped bring their designs to life. Its innovative technology enabled them to research, design and develop their pieces from idea to reality.

A designer behind one of the 80s’ Precision & Power pieces, Nadine El Garhy, explains: “We wanted to integrate the idea of design and engineering into our piece, and we were able to use the Dell XPS to 3D scan Formula 1 tyres and create a full pattern based on it. It saved us so much fabric and time.”

Their group went on to create a vivid yellow jacket, inspired by Ayrton Senna. The garment's loose, flowing structure replicates the inside of a wet-weather tyre, nodding to his legendary expertise in rainy conditions, while its colour draws on Senna’s iconic helmet design.

McLaren Racing’s Chief Marketing Officer, Lou McEwen, was impressed by the team’s ingenuity and resourcefulness, seeing similarities between their ways of working and those at McLaren.

“We have to keep innovating to stay at the front of the grid, and it all boils down to the details,” Lou says. “To see that coming through in the designs was amazing. The students put a lot of precision into their designs, and it was inspiring to see.”

Many of the pieces centred around intricate details, from sweaters embroidered with racing cars to a hat incorporating Daniel Ricciardo’s ‘shoey’. As technology advances, digital elements could reshape the future of fashion and transform entire designs. One group exploring the 1970s used blueprints from a McLaren car design to create corset panelling, contrasting its clean lines with distressed finishes.

Liz Matthews, Senior Vice President, Brand at Dell Technologies, says that motor racing is a “storytelling sport,” and that each piece tells a story. The designers were each given a chapter of McLaren’s history to explore: from the Grit x Glamour of the 1970s, through to the Precision x Power of the 80s, and into the Papaya Era of the 2020s. This unique collection was created to showcase art, which allowed for a lot of creativity.

Sustainability was a prominent theme of the collection, with a major emphasis on the future of fashion, and the students used a range of upcycled materials to create their designs. Especially those working on the Papaya Era looks – most of the fabric incorporated into the design was second-hand, sourced from offcuts of different projects or old McLaren racing boots and tyres. These choices reflect McLaren’s broader approach to sustainability, from selecting more responsible fabrics for our teamwear to our commitment to halve our greenhouse gas footprint by 2030.

“We go racing around the world and we use lots of parts,” says Lou. “In order for us to be citizens with the cleanest footprint possible, we need to reduce waste, and sustainability is important to us.

"It also plays into a wider conversation in the fashion industry around upcycling, and creatives and designers using DIY approaches. I think it's something we'll all be challenged to do in the coming decades. So, it's nice that this process is starting early for them."

This show brought emerging designers from Romania to Canada under one roof, allowing them to draw on their cultural heritage and design philosophies to create unique looks for the catwalk. They followed in the footsteps of influential Central Saint Martins alumni such as Alexander McQueen and Stella McCartney, whose work helped establish fashion as a powerful form of storytelling.

“When we see fashion, we always see the outcome - the performance that lasts 10 minutes,” Fabio says. “What you don't see is the time it takes to get there. The process of fashion is trial and error. You build the narrative, and you build the information that informs your fashion.”

Guests attending the show, including our drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, also got an exclusive peek at the new PUMA x McLaren Racing collection, launching in October, which focuses on James Hunt. The 70s fashion icon inspired a handful of looks during the students’ show and continues to inspire the younger generation.

“With this next generation of talent, learning about the different technological mediums and where it comes to life, and how it moves from technology to real life, is a powerful and inspiring moment,” says Liz.

“Unexpected partnerships and relationships can come together to build beautiful things and to move many things forward - in this case, the world of sport, the world of fashion, the world of technology."

Motorsport is changing. As the fanbase has grown, it has become about much more than racing alone.

"Formula 1 has seen a growth that none of us really was expecting. It's a much younger and a much more diverse audience now,” says Formula 1 presenter Ariana Bravo. “About 42% of fans are under 35, about 43% female. Those are quite crazy statistics for a sport."

From the paddock to the runway, the relationship between motorsport and fashion has been quietly evolving over the last six decades, but is becoming increasingly louder. What Designed to Race: Front Row makes clear is that fashion and sport have always told a story, whether through precision or identity.