STRIKE A POSE

There's a fine line between cool and cringe, but that hasn't stopped some bonkers carmaker and fashion house collabs over the years

- WORDS JASON BARLOW

TopGear is standing on a New York rooftop, flanked by one of those typically NYC water towers. Except that we're actually in a disused power station in northern Germany, repurposed as a studio space in which someone has gone to a lot of trouble recreating an NYC rooftop.

I'm leaning on a lone Mercedes G-Wagen, an original SWB car that's been given a substantial makeover. Old G-Wagens are fashionable, but this one's next level. That's because it's a collaboration between Mercedes-Benz, French outerwear label Moncler and Nigo, creative director of Kenzo, DJ, art collector, friend of Pharrell Williams, the OG hypebeast, and all round 21st century renaissance man. Nigo's here, too, but he doesn't really do interviews. The enigma is expertly preserved at all times. I say hello, he nods fashionably.

His G-Wagen is called Past II Future, and follows Moncler's Project Mondo G, which transformed the wheels into giant silver puffer jacket style cladding and artfully distressed the paintwork. More art piece than car, it looked like it could rove the moon. Nigo's car is an earthbound one off, with a signature puffer cover over the rear, two-tone paintwork, gold fuel filler can, and a custom sound system by audiophile/artist Devon Turnbull.

There's also a Moncler x Nigo capsule collection that channels early 1990s US east coast hip hop vibes, and includes a bomber jacket emblaoned with a print of the G-Class and a shirt with a dashboard graphic, among other G-inspired items. At the launch in Shanghai, a billboard was illuminated with the words, “Where the future is driven by the past.”

And you thought Mercedes was a carmaker.