(March 15, 2011) SANTA MONICA, Calif. — As L.A. Fashion Week gets underway, Edmunds' AutoObserver.com examines the influence that fashion has on automotive design and discovers that the two industries have more in common than many may realize.

In his new piece "Catwalks to Car Dealerships," AutoObserver.com contributor Nick Kurczewski explains the parallels traced by the evolution of fashion and automotive design over the last century.

Through interviews with top design leaders at Ford, General Motors and Mercedes-Benz, Kurczewski identifies some of the shared design characteristics in each decade:

    • 1930s: Delahayes and Bughattis go hand-in-hand with the Hollywood escapism of elegant dresses and crisp tuxedos as people dreamed of better days during the Great Depression
    • 1950s: This decade ushered in bright colors to both dressing rooms and showrooms, a reflection of a period now sugar-coated by nostalgia, as it was the era of Marilyn Monroe, the birth of rock and roll and the flair of the Corvette — which emerged as the all-American sports car.
    • 1960s: While fashion introduced mod-dressing and miniskirts, the auto industry responded in kind with popular fun designs, like the original pony car, the 1964 ½ Mustang.
    • 1980s: The decade of over-indulgence stressed the importance of labels: you are what you wear and you are what you drive.
    • Today: Both fashion and cars are seeing a return to color with more structure and shape — and with craftsmanship and customization more important to consumers.



One thing fashion and cars do not have in common, though, is the speed and flexibility that is unique to their product cycles. While fashion designers right now are looking toward what's hot for next fall, car designers need to anticipate what customers will find attractive three years from now.

"The fashion world can reinvent itself in a matter of weeks at shows in New York, Los Angeles and Paris," writes Kurczewski. "But automotive designers look years into the future to balance current trends with a lasting design that won't look dated."