{"id":22647,"date":"2023-04-27T08:32:00","date_gmt":"2023-04-27T00:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/?p=22647"},"modified":"2026-09-14T08:37:49","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T00:37:49","slug":"maserati-david-beckham-and-hiroshi-fujiwara-want-you-to-relive-your-childhood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/2023\/04\/27\/maserati-david-beckham-and-hiroshi-fujiwara-want-you-to-relive-your-childhood\/","title":{"rendered":"Maserati, David Beckham and Hiroshi Fujiwara Want You to Relive Your Childhood"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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We\u2019d like to think you, Hypebeast readers, are quite familiar with the collaborative landscape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent years, Nike and Virgil Abloh\u2019s \u201cThe Ten,\u201d Supreme and Palace\u2019s constant barrage of top-tier content, and St\u00fcssy\u2019s ascent to the top of the collaborative pile have all been era-defining cultural shifts in their own right. Collaborations are, still, very much an ongoing phenomenon. One quick Google search and you are inundated with information about \u201cThe Power of Collaboration\u201d \u2013 there are TED talks on its value, while Forbes sums it up in a nutshell: \u201cC\u043ell\u0430b\u043er\u0430t\u0456\u043en \u0456\u0455 th\u0435 k\u0435\u0443 to your success.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Collaborations have become the de facto vehicle for hype and hysteria, getting one name out to the world via the means of anothers. Critics often talk about the fashion and footwear industry as being saturated with partnerships \u2013 even we critiqued this in the summer of 2022, asking \u201cAre Too Many Collaborations Diluting Hype?\u201d But sometimes, a collaboration makes perfect sense. Sometimes, there\u2019s more than just a want to the whole collaborative process, there\u2019s a need; something that will change the discourse and our understanding of culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such moments have become a rarity. In the mid-1930s, Elsa Schiaparelli and Salvador Dal\u00ed formed what\u2019s largely regarded as the \u201cfirst-ever art-and-fashion collaboration,\u201d which not only went on to inform much of what we know today, but created a totally new way to deliver product to a wider group of people. It proved that two worlds \u2013 once as far apart as can be from each other \u2013 can come together, and nothing explores these unlikely friendships like car collaborations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re not talking about pre-merger Mercedes-Benz x AMG in the 1980s, nor BMW Art Cars re-imagined by Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons or David Hockney. Instead, think along the lines of KITH x BMW, Virgil Abloh x Mercedes-Maybach, or Hiroshi Fujiwara\u2019s fragment design x Maserati \u2013 the latter being of particular interest, as the two have just announced their next partnership, culminating in the fragment design x Maserati GranTurismo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fujiwara is a collaborative fanatic, known for his work with Nike, Moncler, and more recently Maserati with his Ghibli make-over of 2021. But as the multihyphenate told Hypebeast during Maserati\u2019s unveiling of the fragment design collaboration during Milan Design Week, \u201cthe fashion and car industry is so different.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the contrary to our first thoughts, this statement is not as obvious as it seems. As Fujiwara explained, \u201cWhen I started working with Nike, I wanted to touch the Swoosh. \u2018Oh, you can\u2019t touch the Swoosh!\u2019.\u201d He jokes, but the reality is that turning a car into a collaborative project is no easy feat: \u201cThere are many things you cannot do. Things that you think are really easy, like changing the color of the seatbelt, are not easy. It took six months.\u201d Likewise, reworking the badging on his Ghibli took six months. And for the Maserati GranTurismo, there is \u2013 as of writing \u2013 only a digital version of the product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want to teach and give the kids a lesson. I want them to see how beautiful vintage cars are.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what can feel like a strenuous exercise behind closed doors exercises in pushing Maserati under the spotlight and further towards the future. As it starts to explore electrification, it also wants to target a new, younger audience. The very same audience that fragment design has in a chokehold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want to teach and give the kids a lesson. I want them to see how beautiful vintage cars are.\u201d In order to do so, Fujiwara has taken Maserati\u2019s most technologically-advanced automobiles and channeled the past for his one-of-a-kind creation. The lights range from headlights surrounded in riveted glass clusters to rear lights inspired by 80s 8-bit graphics, the wheels are inspired by the \u201cturbofan\u201d aerodiscs of the \u201870s, and the front grille looks back at Maserati\u2019s own cars of the \u201860s, sporting a grid design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the same strategy as a sneaker, it\u2019s like giving an archive sneaker an update,\u201d explains Fujiwara. And like a sneaker brand that wants to use the past to inspire a new generation of sneakerheads, Maserati also wants to reference the past in order to look ahead. For the marque, Fujiwara is the perfect designer to do so, as he possesses the ability to pull from various references and subsequently speak to the youth consumer. As his design team added, \u201cHiroshi is such a pioneer of everything that he touches. I think a product such as a car is the next big thing, isn\u2019t it? He\u2019s done the sneakers and the watches, countless numbers of things [that are] commodities. I mean, it\u2019s sad to say \u2018commodities,\u2019 but a car is still something that has an aesthetic style. It\u2019s an iconic modern object that is relevant to kids.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maserati\u2019s efforts to tap into the kids of today don\u2019t stop at Hiroshi Fujiwara and fragment design, though. As car brands have had for decades, Maserati also has a global ambassador \u2013 David Beckham.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The footballer-turned-businessman, soccer club owner, model, designer, and known car fanatic has been a part of the Maserati family since 2021. He drives a custom-made MC20, is one of the only people to have driven the full range of GranTurismo cars (both V6 and electric variants), and is more than just a face for the brand. Golden Balls is a fan first, ambassador second, and that combination makes him the perfect name to attract the desired audience \u2013 such as his own children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHaving three younger sons \u2013 who are the first to tell me about these new collaborations \u2013 these collaborations are the coolest things out there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think that collaborations are so important for brands these days,\u201d Beckham tells us. \u201cIn the last five-to-ten years, [think of] the kind of brands doing collaborations. Whether it\u2019s Louis Vuitton and Kusama, or anything Pharrell has touched over the years. Having three younger sons \u2013 who are the first to tell me about these new collaborations that I sometimes I\u2019ve never even heard of \u2013 these collaborations are the coolest things out there for these kids.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s clear that car collaborations are really shifting Beckham\u2019s gears. \u201cMaserati has such a great history and heritage, but you want to bring in that younger crowd, you want to bring in that fresh kind of car enthusiast. I can only speak about my kids, but when I was 16 years old, I couldn\u2019t wait to get to 17 to start driving. Whereas two of my boys love driving and my other son, he\u2019s like \u2018yeah, maybe I\u2019ll pass my test.\u2019 I think collaborations are important, because it brings in a new crowd. That is what, especially for a company with such a long history, is important: to bring back a car like the GranTurismo that has a 75-year history\u2026 combine that with a collaboration. I think that\u2019s important for the brand because it takes it to a different level.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beckham has experienced Maserati\u2019s next level firsthand. Having created his MC20 with the marque\u2019s Head of Design, Klaus Busse, to driving the brand\u2019s various cars is \u201ca big thing\u201d for Beckham. \u201cPeople know that I love cars, people know where I\u2019m from, so they know that I like history and the heritage of things \u2013 it\u2019s personal to me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Above all else, Beckham understands that beyond a collaborative design effort and being the face of a campaign, those two elements being marketing tools, is the fact both are also great vessels for storytelling. In turn, this opens Maserati\u2019s history books up to the new generation of car enthusiasts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hiroshi Fujiwara\u2019s collaboration tells a story about the past and the future, and in doing so, it has given Beckham a way to connect with his own children. \u201cMaserati cars are aspirational. I know how Romeo is about the car. He would love his own Maserati. He would love an MC20 \u2013 he\u2019s not gonna get it yet, but it\u2019s aspirational. When I was a kid, my dad had a Ford Granada GT or something. I wanted a Capri. Now, Romeo sees me in a Maserati. He hears my Maserati coming before he actually sees me, which is something that\u2019s special about Maserati.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The storytelling aspect is what is changing car collaborations, and the younger generation\u2019s ability to understand them for the greater good. When David Beckham and Hiroshi Fujiwara grew up, they \u2013 like many of their generation \u2013 would have posters of dramatic \u201880s and \u201890s supercars adorning their walls. Nowadays\u2019 youth might have a screensaver to show their allegiance to the automotive world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Beckham, he sees collaborations such as fragment design\u2019s, as well as the brand Maserati, as the next step in connecting the dots. \u201cI\u2019ve always looked at cars like pieces of art and I think when you are having these people come in and design\u2026 what they\u2019re designing and how they\u2019re doing different things, makes the younger generation sit up and actually want to be part of that. Storytelling \u2013 to any success of a business \u2013 is key. Because these days, and especially my kids, want to hear those things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the very same reason we are intrinsically hooked on a fantastically niche St\u00fcssy partnership, or a capsule collection that draws upon a cult film or band, Maserati achieves this with fragment design. Together, they paint a picture of desire and aspiration, telling a story that captures the nostalgic little kid inside all of us. As Beckham concluded, \u201cWhen I sit my kids down and say, by the way, this car, this is where it came from, this is the desire, and this is what it looked like all these years ago\u2026 and now it\u2019s coming back. Now, you\u2019ve got great collaborations that are part of this brand. That\u2019s when it just brings them in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But for Maserati, it\u2019s not about just tapping into youth culture. On designing his car with Klaus Busse, Beckham recalls his sheer excitement, living out a childhood dream: \u201cI was 43. I was like a 13-year-old kid, mindblown. I was so excited about every single detail. I think Klaus got to the point where he was like, \u2018are bored yet?\u2019 and I was like, absolutely not! Can we stay another few hours?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the magic of car collaborations today, and Maserati might be the only marque that is able to use collaborative partners to inspire nostalgic wonder for petrolheads across the globe. It\u2019s a brand that possesses that quintessential Italian charm, the very kind your then-favorite TV presenter got all esoteric about on a Sunday evening, talking to you through the telly as they (probably) drove a Maserati GranTurismo around the Italian hills, unknowingly inspiring you for the years to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We\u2019d like to think you, Hypebeast readers, are quite familiar with the collaborative landscape. In recent years, Nike and Virgil Abloh\u2019s \u201cThe Ten,\u201d Supreme and Palace\u2019s constant barrage of top-tier content, and St\u00fcssy\u2019s ascent to the top of the collaborative pile have all been era-defining cultural shifts in their own right. Collaborations are, still, very […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22658,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[223],"tags":[444,203,16],"class_list":["post-22647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-car","tag-david-beckham","tag-hiroshi-fujiwara","tag-maserati"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22647"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22647\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22659,"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22647\/revisions\/22659"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}