There are captains of industry, and then there are commodores. For a few short hours at the start of the Los Angeles Auto Show, the flag-rank executives of the automotive business -- chief executives, head designers and other board-level types -- jetted in to field questions from reporters and brag on their latest lumps of road-going gorgeousnessness. You might suspect auto executives of being merely the most exalted form of plaid-wearing car salesmen, but these gentlemen -- and they are, almost without exception, men -- are some of the most beautifully dressed and perfectly appointed man-divas you'll ever meet (if you're not hustled aside by their handlers). They have to be. Commanding multibillion-dollar global empires with the stroke of a Tibaldi pen, auto execs are the walking, talking embodiments of their brands. They work in a business obsessed with image and design. Their personal presentation is a form of company equity.
Motor trends
STYLE SCOUT
These well-upholstered auto CEOs almost outperform the cars at the L.A. Auto Show.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Sunday, December 02, 2007 Home Edition Image Part P Page 2 Features Desk 1 inches; 42 words Type of Material: Correction
Style Scout: An article in last Sunday's Image section on what auto executives wore to the opening of the L.A. Auto Show incorrectly stated that Franz Von Holzhausen, director of design for Mazda, lives in Long Beach. Von Holzhausen lives in Venice.
The Los Angeles Auto Show, which ends today at the Convention Center, offers unusually good access to these titans of transportation, and so we took the opportunity to quiz them about their personal style, their clothing choices and their guilty fashion pleasures.
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Stephan Winkelmann
CEO of Lamborghini
Age: 43
Home: Born in Berlin, raised in Rome; now lives in Bologna, Italy
Wearing: Bespoke pinstripe suit and shirt, Church boots with laces, stainless steel Rolex watch, Marinella tie (made in Naples)
Backstory: As the head of the most outrageous and style-obsessed of the Italian exotic sports car companies, the dapper Winkelmann fills a job no mere bean counter could handle. Also, as a true German-Italian, he is ideally suited to negotiate the cultural gulf between the exuberant-if-undisciplined Italian car culture and the rigorous engineering and accounting of Audi, which now owns Lamborghini. Chief executive since 2005, Winkelmann has steered the company's product resurgence and has seen sales rise dramatically.
Personal style: With the Euro dial set to maximum, Winkelmann knows exactly what he likes and how he likes it. In suits, always English fabrics ("fewer wrinkles"), usually pinstripes, typically three-button, double vent, Continental cut. "I like my suits tight, with the trouser a bit shorter, with a 4-centimeter cuff."
Bespoke or off the rack: Bespoke. "My tailor in Turin? He has no name."
Buttons or cuff links: "I wear a lot of buttoned shirts -- maybe 70% -- but I never button the sleeve. If I wear a button-down, I never button the collar. Otherwise, I prefer a French-cut collar. I don't really like extreme, the Kent collar."
Money quote: "I hate gold. Never wear gold."
Fashion indulgence: Sculpted sideburns. "I like them a bit longer. I don't care if they are fashionable."
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Carlos Ghosn
CEO of Nissan-Renault
Age: 53
Home: Born and raised in Brazil; lives in Paris
Wearing: Louis Vuitton, head to toe
How that happened: Ghosn was visiting the chief executive of Louis Vuitton, Yves Carcelle, at the special-order studio in Paris this year when Carcelle suggested he dress Ghosn for the high-profile launch of the Nissan GT-R, a ferocious new sports car. "I was interested in doing some co-marketing," Ghosn says. "The car can hold two golf bags. Why not Louis Vuitton golf bags?" Tailors arrived at Ghosn's Renault office and soon two outfits -- suits, shirts, ties, shoes, watch -- arrived.
Backstory: As the head of both Nissan and Renault (and board member of IBM), Ghosn is a business superstar, particularly in Japan, where he is the only foreigner to head a major domestic auto company. A dusk-to-dawn worker splitting his time between Paris and Tokyo, Ghosn has the reputation as a tremendously tough deal-maker and ruthless cost-cutter.
Personal style: A classic dresser, preferring dark three-button suits and black shoes for what he calls "official presentation."
Bespoke or off the rack: Off the rack
Money quote: "Men who have suits made for them have time to have suits made for them."
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Tom Purves
Chairman and CEO,
BMW U.S. Holding Corp.
Age: 58
Home: Born in Edinburgh, Scotland; lives in New York
Wearing: John Bray pinstripe suit (just off St. James Square in London), Hermes tie, Van Cleef and Arpels watch, Church shoes
Backstory: Purves is known as a no-nonsense, all-in businessman and a car guy to the core. After serving his apprenticeship at Rolls-Royce, he worked for BMW at a variety of overseas posts before being named head of BMW in the U.S. in 1999. Since then, BMW sales have doubled and he has overseen the success of the reborn Mini brand.
Personal style: Immaculate and traditional, less Continental than British, mostly dark pinstripe suits. "I wear a jacket almost always," he says, "simply because it's so practical, with pockets for everything."
Bespoke or off the rack: Off the rack, prefers Canelli and Zegna
Money quote: "I was taught to wear black shoes during the week and brown shoes on the weekend."
