L'art de l'automobile

A natural passion for cars and a strong connection to the fashion industry have led Arthur Kar to build L'art de l'automobile into one of the most genuine brands in fashion. 

Growing up in Paris, Arthur Kar’s love for cars and racing brought him to work at a small car wash. In an interview for HYPEBEAST, Kar recalls asking for one of the car wash shop shirts because there wasn’t any car branded merch available to wear. This scarcity of car-inspired clothing eventually brought him to create L'art de l'automobile. 

Kar likes to compare his L’art to a restaurant t-shirt. “My favorite merch is restaurant logo t-shirts. If the food is good, and the restaurant takes their logo and puts it on a t-shirt, chances are the t-shirt is going to be good too. Everywhere I go with my girlfriend or my friends, if the food is worthy, we try to get a t-shirt on the spot.” No restaurants start by making their t-shirts, they start by making h food. This is the same for Kar’s brand. He started L'art de l'automobile in 2011 as an upscale car dealership. Sourcing the rarest cars in the world brought him in contact with the likes of Virgil Abloh, Kanye West, and Heron Preston. Connections like this inspired him to start the fashion brand L'art de l'automobile in 2017. An established client base and strong connections in the fashion world helped L’Art to grow a cult following.

L’ art focuses on creating a bridge between car and fashion culture. Designs feature classic cars such as the Carrera GT, Porsche 986 and Golf Gti Mk 2 emblazoned across h shirts and hats. The Golf GTI has become somewhat of a calling card for L’art as it can be seen on their logo and in a recent collection with vans. A GTI was Arthur's first car and represents Kars sentiment that anyone can get into cars regardless of wealth or status. 

In recent collaborations with Carhartt and Solomon, Kar has started to push the brand from a merch line to a fashion label. Embroidered “Karhartt” pine green denim jackets and bold yellow and green Solomon Asc pros are a stark difference from their early screen printed tees. 

Just as brands like Supreme and Stussy draw are the brands of skate and surf culture, L’Art de L’Automobile is quickly becoming the first brand to represent car culture.