Lewis Hamilton faced a problem no other driver in F1 history had ever had to face before, from the moment he stepped foot into the paddock. He was the first black driver in the sport’s history, which, unfortunately, made him subject to racism and discrimination, something he had to work hard to get the better of.
At a very young age, Hamilton realized that fitting in with the white people wasn’t going to be the right way to go. To stand out, he had to do something different. Something…extraordinary.
“Black men have always had to be more excellent than our white counterparts. I’ve seen that with my father and with me—we needed to be overachievers,” Hamilton said in a recent feature with Vogue.
So, in addition to giving his all on the track and becoming a force to reckon with in racing, Hamilton also immersed himself in fashion, for which he took inspiration from Michael Jordan and other prominent black men in society.
“When I was growing up outside of London, there were no museums near me, there wasn’t much diversity, and there certainly wasn’t any exposure to fashion,” the Briton added. Hamilton simply had to rely on magazines to see how people he idolized dressed and expressed themselves through fashion.
“The people I looked up to—it was Muhammad Ali, it was Michael Jordan, it was Eddie Murphy in Beverly Hills Cop wearing that cool leather jacket. And then a little bit later I started to learn about Cab Calloway, James Baldwin, Nelson Mandela, and André Leon Talley.”
“I saw how their image was so important to them, and how they presented themselves through fashion,” he further admitted. Jordan likely played the biggest role among the men Hamilton mentioned.
During Hamilton’s childhood, Jordan was at his peak, and the iconic ‘Jordans’ shoes were one of the hottest commodities in the market, bringing in billions for Nike. It was a shoe many aspired to own, and that cultural impact may have inspired Hamilton to pursue his own path in fashion.
Fast forward to today, and Hamilton has carved out a name for himself in the industry. He’s collaborated with major fashion houses like Tommy Hilfiger and has even risen to become a member of the jury at the Met Gala—one of fashion’s most prestigious events.
The 40-year-old sees fashion as a form of self-expression and, in doing so, has inspired others in the F1 paddock—like Pierre Gasly and Ferrari reserve Guanyu Zhou—to embrace their own styles as well. Drawing a parallel to Jordan, who inspired him on multiple fronts, Hamilton, too, has become one of the GOATs in his own sport.
