The Fash and The Furious: We Assembled the Illest Fashion Crew of ALL TIME
To celebrate Furious 7, we brought together the dopest fashion minds to create the most stylish set the world's ever seen.
Image via Complex Original
If the Fast and Furious franchise has taught us anything, it's that you can't pull off high-speed heists or go toe-to-toe with drug lords and sexy assassins without the perfect crew. There really is strength in numbers, and like a modified car with the perfect parts, a great team working together is capable of just about anything. With Furious 7 hitting theaters today, that got us thinking about who in the fashion world would absolutely murder the game if they got together.
While we're not expecting this crew to pull of a caper or break international laws, we've stepped back and picked an all-star crew that, if actually assembled, would dominate ateliers from Paris to Tokyo. It's a fantasy draft could only be realized while cruising down the Avenue des Champs-Élysées in a Dodge Charger R/T or drifting through Harajuku's streetwear district in a kitted-out Nissan Skyline GTR. Meet the illest crew of stylish minds on the planet. This is The Fash and The Furious.
Rick Owens is Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel)
Role: The Anti-Heroic Leader
The Fast and the Furious franchise is nothing without it's most recognizable face: Vin Diesel's Dominic Toretto. A bad boy with a heart of gold, Toretto may break a few laws, cars, and faces, but that's all to protect the people in his crew. He's not afraid to make enemies, and nothing phases him when he's set his mind on something. Now take Rick Owens, fashion's unlikely bad boy. Penises on the runway? Check. Art videos with suggested horse sex? Check.
Rick Owens isn't afraid to stir up a little controversy while providing his fans with product they can continue to lust over season after season. For Diesel, the fans know what they're going to get with every Fast and Furious film, and they love it all the more. For Rick Owens, while he may be more unexpected, you can bet his fanbase will flock to it each year—Rick Owens x adidas Springblades, anyone?
Raf Simons is Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker)
Role: The Good Guy Everyone Roots For
No franchise is complete without a loveable hero. For the “Fast” films, that role is filled by Paul Walker's Brian O'Conner; a cop with his own troubled past. O'Conner has a great sense of justice, but sometimes ends up with conflicting interests when it comes to the things (and people) he loves. Throughout the series, O'Conner flip-flops between the right and wrong sides of the law, but never loses his moral compass. He's always the knight interested in taking on the big bad guys. It's his true loyalty to the crew that makes him such a likeable character.
For Raf Simons, his devotion to his own team makes him a perfect analogy. Not only does Simons rely heavily on his “right hand” Pieter Mulier, but he's committed to making his aesthetic work in even the most strenuous situations. As chronicled in the documentary Dior and I, Simons is willing and able to work with the prestige of Dior, but he wants to also make sure his vision is completed as well. If Paul Walker has to break a few laws in order to put away a drug kingpin, then Raf Simons can apply a Sterling Ruby print onto an archival Dior dress design.
John Galliano is Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson)
Role: The Rival-Turned-Valuable-Ally
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson's Luke Hobbs started off as DSS agent hot on Toretto and company's tail. By the end of Fast 5, he's helping the crew pull off a heist—while getting his own revenge for his fallen fellow agents. Even though he starts out as a thorn in the side of the protagonist, his reestablishment as an ally by Fast and Furious 6 showed that he had turned over a new leaf.
John Galliano's fall from grace was well known, and effectively inescapable. The fallout ultimately resulted in the loss of his job and a brief hiatus from fashion. Recently however, after public support from several of fashions biggest names, including the mighty Anna Wintour, he returned to the world in a blaze of glory to the enigmatic Maison Margiela. He's certainly going to have to live down his formerly bad behavior, but in the meantime, it looks as if the crew has accepted Galliano back into the fold—not unlike Toretto and Hobbs.
Cara Delevingne is Letty Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez)
Role: The Indomitable Badass With a Softer Side
It's not just that they've been seen together, if Michelle Rodriguez is the tomboy of the Fast and the Furious franchise, then Cara Delevingne is fashion's resident female badass. Rodriguez's Letty Ortiz begins as Dominic Toretto's (Vin Diesel) girlfriend, exhibiting all the exemplary qualities of a certified ride-or-die chick. As the franchise progresses, she cheats death and becomes an amnesiac heist driver who happens to play for the villains. She isn't all roundhouse kicks and blazing guns, though. In Furious 7 especially, we get a peek at Letty Ortiz dressed to the nines—and she's absolutely stunning.
Cara Delevingne is a effectively the Internet's representative into the fashion world, courting a massive social following while she does everything from Chanel runways to helming the campaign for fast-fashion retailer Topshop. Oh, and before you think she's just modeling, she's also busting out her acting chops in a John Green film. She's equally at home in relaxed streetwear or haute couture, which is why she looks equally good on the cover of British Vogue as she does in a tiger onesie. Don't let her Victoria's Secret contract fool you—she may officially be an Angel, but she's got a wild side too.
Phoebe Philo is Mia Toretto (Jordana Brewster)
Role: The Bombshell-Turned-Mastermind
Over the course of the franchise Mia Torretto (portrayed by Jordana Brewster) has evolved from a one-note love interest into a strategic mastermind who can more than hold her own with her male counterparts. In Fast and Furious, she proves herself as more than adept behind the wheel of an Acura NSX at the film's end, part of a team of drivers busting her brother Dominic Toretto out of a prison bus. In Fast Five, she keeps her cool despite being pregnant, and under a hail of gunfire when a job goes wrong. Eventually Mia oversees the film's climactic heist, and provides necessary intel to the team on the ground. She also acts as the meditator and glue that keeps the crew together, thanks to her level-headedness.
Formidable fashion designer also knows a thing or two about stepping out from underneath someone's shadow, cutting her teeth under Stella McCartney as design assistant before succeeding her as creative director. Like Mia Torretto, she didn't let pregnancy disrupt her career. After a two year fashion sabbatical where she bore her second child, she was appointed as the creative director of Céline, where she currently reigns as one of fashion's coolest creatives.
Jun Takahashi is Tej Parker (Ludacris)
Role: The Hands-On, Technically Gifted Wizard
Ludacris' Tej Parker is all about the technical details. While Tej isn't about racing, he is about flipping parts and tuning cars in the garage—which is what prompted Vin Diesel's Toretto to bring him on has the crews tech expert. Jun Takahashi may not be handling car parts, but when it comes to technical design, his work with Undercover, and it's Gyakusou collaboration with Nike, puts Takahashi at the forefront of technical menswear design.
Much like the cars that Tej is responsible for tuning up, Takahashi's work on Gyakusou combines the best running gear with modern aesthetics to create something that's functional and attractive. We're not suggesting you get into illegal street chases with the cops, but much like Parker's auto work, Takahashi's Gyakusou is meant to outrun the competition.
Tom Ford is Sean Boswell (Lucas Black)
Role: The Dark Horse With a Worldly Perspective
The main protagonist of Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Sean Boswell (portrayed by Lucas Black) is an American expatriate who leaves his homeland and ends up honing his skills abroad. Boswell's time in Japan allowed him to pick up some new skills too—like drifting. Likewise, Tom Ford had to leave the U.S. to further his career, spending a great deal in Europe as the creative director for Gucci, then Yves Saint Laurent, bringing a new masculine energy to tailoring and a unique elegance to womenswear.
Jeremy Scott is Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson)
Role: The Quick-Witted Prankster
Roman Pearce, played by Tyrese, is a character known for his brash attitude, and big mouth. He's also not afraid to play a prank on one of his crew members either, especially the more cautious Tej Parker. Someone else who likes to play a prank or two? Jeremy Scott.
His collections are fashion at peak “tongue in cheek,” and whether he's flipping the McDonald's logo for Moschino or designing adidas sneakers with teddy bears and tiger stripes, Jeremy Scott is always tapping the lighter side of situations. Like Roman Pearce, Scott's got a perspective, and he'll make sure everyone knows about it.
James Jebbia is Han-Seoul-Oh (Sung Kang)
Role: The Renegade
Sung Kang's Han Lue—aka “Han-Seoul-Oh”—has been a part of Dom's crew from the start but was established as a maverick who could hold his own. Like the Star Wars character his nickname pays homage to, he's a rogue with a heart of gold who's willing to ride or die for his friends. He's also a self-made man who's achieved success and acceptance among the crew by following his own rules, much like Supreme founder James Jebbia, who's earned respect in the fashion world through building a strong, consistent, and youthfully energetic brand.
Kanye West is Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham)
Role: The Misunderstood Villain
Jason Statham's Deckard Shaw is a big bad who's out for vengeance. Furious 7 picks up directly after his post-credits cameo in Fast and Furious 6, where he swears revenge on Dominic Toretto. Meanwhile, Kanye West has made his love-hate relationship with the fashion world clear, and his latest adidas collection serves as a decidedly anti-fashion statement, hoping to solve the world's problems through his clothing designs. While wanting to fix the world's pant leg is an undoubtedly noble cause, the lengths he'll go to accomplish his mission may be further than even the most fashionable crew estimates.