Sunday Times

DON’T WEAR YOUR HEART ON YOUR SLEEVE

- LS Thomas Falkiner

Car culture is a contentiou­s subject. Especially when it comes to expressing love for one’s favourite brand. Opinions will always differ but I live firmly by the belief that less is more — certainly when it comes to clothing.

Just the other day I was sitting enjoying a coffee in Greenside when a loud BMW M4 pulled up kerbside and a middle-aged man spilled from its cabin. As I’ve never been a fan of the M4, I already found myself questionin­g his life choices. So you can imagine my quiet bewilderme­nt when I spotted — as he swaggered on by — his “BMW Motorsport” hoodie and matching shoes. We get it, dude, you own a BMW. We saw you. We heard you.

We already understand (or maybe we don’t) that you’ve got a penchant for unnecessar­ily large coupés that place brute power over general poise and handling panache. Your car has done the talking so your clothes don’t have to.

If you think I’m picking on BMW drivers

I’m not. Ferrari owners are equally suspect, thanks to Maranello’s fondness for apparel. Caps. Wallets. Espadrille­s. Sunglasses. Chronograp­hs. More often than not, the person behind the steering wheel is wearing more prancing horse logos than the 458 he or she happens to be commandeer­ing.

Like a Dachshund lover wearing a Dachshund sweater to the Saturday dog park, this compulsion for wearing our automotive hearts on our sleeves is ridiculous … if not a little weird. So when in doubt just remember that not stating the obvious is perhaps the ultimate form of expressive sophistica­tion. ●

 ?? Picture: Claudio Lavenia/Getty Image ??
Picture: Claudio Lavenia/Getty Image

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