PARIS — When Lewis Hamilton steps out on a Formula 1 racetrack, officials at fashion and luxury brands rub their hands.
The British driver has carved out a reputation as the most stylish racer in Formula 1 and even has his own clothing line. Now Hamilton is making the leap into the luxury big leagues by joining the ranks of brand ambassadors at Dior, in addition to guest designing a new lifestyle capsule collection for the house.
United by their joint commitment to sustainability and passion for Africa, Hamilton and Kim Jones, artistic director of menswear at Dior, worked together on the line, which is scheduled to drop on Oct. 17 in Dior boutiques and online.
The partnership comes as the seven-time world champion is poised to switch teams to Ferrari in 2025 after 12 seasons with Mercedes. The shock decision will bring together the most successful driver in the history of the sport with its most successful team, as Hamilton chases a record-breaking eighth title.
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A regular at Paris Fashion Week, Hamilton first met Jones in the chaos of backstage greetings in 2016, when the designer was still at Louis Vuitton. Since then, their friendship has blossomed, to the point that they plan to vacation together in Mozambique this summer.
“We’ve both been talking a lot about Africa,” Hamilton told WWD in an exclusive joint interview with Jones at the Dior men’s showroom in Paris. The athlete has traveled the continent as he explores his heritage and has spoken about his dream of one day racing there.
The son of a hydrogeologist, Jones spent his childhood years in African countries — Botswana, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Kenya and Ghana — and is passionate about conservation, sponsoring a number of endangered species.
It stands to reason that their debut collaboration touches on all those points, with outdoor-friendly clothes made from 80 percent sustainable materials and incorporating African-inspired motifs.
“Some of the fabrics were made in Burkina Faso. We’re working with someone who’s helping us source sustainable fabrics throughout the continent and really looking at what we can do to help get the next generation of people educated to be able to come work in a studio like this,” said Jones.
“We want to make sure it has impact,” Hamilton chimed in.
The driver, who has long followed a plant-based diet, also requested that no animal leather be used.
“Making it sustainable was key,” he said. “When you’ve got a big house like Dior pushing that technology as well, hopefully, the goal is always to encourage all the other brands to want to start doing the same, because so many just are not conscious.”
Hamilton is known as a hands-on collaborator. “Honestly, this has been such a dream,” he enthused, drawing a parallel between the 2,000 people who work behind the scenes on Mercedes cars, and the Dior menswear team.
Surprisingly, the collection is centered around skiing and snowboarding, rather than motorsport. It turns out Hamilton is a fan of extreme sports. “I started snowboarding when I was 23 — quite late, really — but I go every year without fail,” he said. “I skydive, I surf.”
He’s even learning to fly a helicopter. “I’m trying to get my license but it’s a very slow process, because I can’t fit it in too often so I’ve only got, like, 15 hours of flying so far,” he said.
The line is made for an active lifestyle, with pants in fabrics ranging from denim to tweed; knits, sweatshirts and fleece tops made partly in organic or recycled textiles, and technical clothing by Japanese ski apparel maker Descente, which has collaborated with Dior since the luxury brand launched its ski capsule in 2020.
Accessories include the B44 Blade and Snow sneakers — the latter technically suited for snowboarding.
“I wanted to bring vibrancy, I wanted to figure out how to do something a little bit different to what Dior does so well,” said Hamilton. “It’s very comfortable. It’s definitely more relaxed.”
His personal outfits are closely tracked by Instagram accounts like @hamazinglew, making him a natural fit as brand ambassador for the French fashion house.
The driver rocked a number of Dior looks in the run-up to his recent win at the British Grand Prix, which ended the longest drought in his career. These included an embroidered blue-and-white jacket from the house’s spring 2025 collection inspired by South African master potter Hylton Nel.
“I’m just always thrilled to see it because I know he wears it because he loves it,” said Jones, who praised Hamilton for breaking boundaries in the sport and making a statement with his clothes.
“Lewis does a lot for young designers and independent designers,” he noted. “They need that help right now in this environment.”
Having previously worked with Law Roach, Hamilton collaborates with stylist Eric McNeal on his looks.
“I try to be really intentional, so it’s a lot of planning,” he said. “We look at the calendar and the different locations we’re going, so if we’re going to Italy or Canada or the U.S., we try to look at particularly young, up-and-coming designers, particularly diverse designers, to give them the platform.”
Occasionally he uses his outfits to address a broader cause, like the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020, as part of his efforts to push for more diversity in his field.
“I think about me as an 8-year-old, watching the TV,” he said, adding that he hopes to inspire the youth of today. “They’ll be asking their parents, ‘Why is Lewis wearing that?’ And it starts a conversation at the table, whether it’s comfortable or not.”
As the first Black driver in Formula 1, Hamilton had to fight to be authentic to himself.
“I was not feeling inspired. Fashion had no place in the sport. So then as I started testing the waters, it was really risky each time, because every time I did it, people wrote negatively,” he recalled.
“And bit by bit, people were like, ‘Oh, actually, he can turn out looking like this, and also it’s obviously having a positive impact on his racing.’ And then others started to come out of their shell, so it’s been really exciting to see these other drivers now being more expressive,” he said.
Since joining Mercedes in 2013, Hamilton has been an ambassador for Swiss watchmaker IWC Schaffhausen, though he’s expected to switch to Richard Mille with the move to Ferrari next year.
He plans to grow his own clothing line, Plus 44, named after his racing number, into a permanent collection after focusing on collaborative drops with the likes of artist Takashi Murakami. Hamilton has also designed several collections with Tommy Hilfiger, starting in 2018.
Though Ferrari’s sponsors include Giorgio Armani, and the Italian car company also has its own upscale clothing collection designed by Rocco Iannone, Hamilton is set to continue his partnership with Dior over several seasons.
“We have an extended relationship,” Jones explained. “This is almost like a taste, and then we get into bigger collections.”
While Hamilton said he wants to make sure that Mercedes finishes the season in a strong position, he described his move to Ferrari as a “dream scenario,” noting that he used to race as Michael Schumacher when he played Formula 1 video games as a kid.
“You’d always look at the screen and wonder what it would be like to be in a red car, so I think it’s going to be an interesting experience, but one I’m really excited about,” he said.
Hamilton is tied with Schumacher as the driver with the most world championship titles. “I’m working towards the eighth. I’ve just got to keep pushing,” the 39-year-old said.
He’s also gearing up for the release next year of “F1,” the movie he’s coproducing with Hollywood veteran Jerry Bruckheimer and the film’s star, Brad Pitt. Directed by Joseph Kosinski, it’s being filmed at real-life racetracks during actual competitions, with a teaser trailer screened at Silverstone on July 7.
“You’ve never seen anything like this race movie. I mean, I think racing movies have been very hard to capture in the past, and I think some people have done good jobs. They did a great job with ‘Rush,’ for example,” Hamilton enthused.
“But Joe has such an amazing eye and the technology we’re using, cameras that have all been specially designed for this, capture racing and its speed and so hopefully, I think you’re gonna be sitting there, really feeling like you’re in the car with us, and feeling exhilarated like we feel in the car,” he added.
In the meantime, Hamilton is looking forward to taking time out with Jones for his summer break. Neither fashion nor racing are on the menu.
“I don’t like talking about fashion all the time, because I’ve got other interests as well,” Jones said.
“Same with me, I don’t like to talk about racing,” Hamilton countered.
“We’ll be probably going to search for dugongs and stuff like that,” Jones said with a laugh. “It’s someone that you can spend time with, and I learn stuff from you, and you learn stuff from me.”
