Tag: Fashion

Start that holiday shopping now.

We’re talking everything from sleek knee-highs to classic riding boots.

Chic and cosy in equal measure.

A new look is loading.

It’s simple and chic.

Leggings have never looked so chic.

It’s not just a trend; it’s a staple.

What to pack for a long trip, according to a seasoned fashion-month attendee.

If you haven’t heard of Century, don’t worry. You will. Toyota is throwing down the gauntlet at the top of the automotive luxury space with the new brand whose motto is “One of One,” and whose mission is going toe-to-toe with Rolls-Royce and Bentley in the luxury market’s highest altitude. With this new coupe concept, joining the recently revealed SUV and sedan concepts, Century seeks to help define a new era for the Japanese automotive industry. 

In a crowded hall at the Japan Mobility Show, packed with automotive media from around the world, Akio Toyoda, chairman of the brand’s board of directors, stood in front of the cloth-draped silhouette of a mystery fastback coupe that would soon complete a trinity of vehicles in the Century lineup. His presence here was a statement in itself. 

With emotion in his voice, Toyoda delivered a speech that felt as much like a rally for Japanese pride as it did a vehicle reveal. “I believe this car was born carrying Japan on its shoulders,” said Toyoda as he reached back in time to tell the story of the post-war Japanese automotive industry through the lens of Toyota. Then he skipped ahead a few decades to when the first Century vehicle was developed by his grandfather, Toyota founder Kiichiro Toyoda, and Toyota’s first chief engineer, Kenya Nakamura. 

The year was 1963. Tokyo was hosting the next year’s Summer Olympics, and Toyoda and Nakamura set out to create the “pinnacle of luxury cars,” as Akio tells it. With everything they had learned about making modern cars paired with traditional details like Edo metal engraving on the phoenix emblem and Nishijin-ori brocade for the seat fabric, they released the original Century in 1967. 

“What the people of Japan needed at that time… was a sense of pride in being Japanese,” said Akio Toyoda. He defined his grandfather’s mission as creating a “democratic, automotive-industrial nation, contributing to Japan’s peaceful rebuilding and to world culture.” 

For Akio Toyoda, that mission is as relevant today as it was then. “The ‘Japan as No. 1’ era is behind us,” he said. “Japan as a nation seems to have lost some of its energy and dynamism, along with our presence in the world.” 

You could feel this line cut through the room. It landed hard, but not without a noticeable sense of collective agreement. He had clearly struck a chord that the mostly Japanese crowd understood better than I ever could. But it’s clear from my viewpoint at the Japan Mobility Show that the world is changing fast, and the automotive world must change with it. So, when an industry is as closely identified with a culture as is the Japanese automotive industry, then that change is cultural, too.  

“If Kiichiro and Nakamura could see Japan today, what would they say?” Toyoda asked, “I suspect they wouldn’t say anything and instead leap straight into action.”

The Century is that action. In Toyoda’s words, it is “not just another brand within Toyota Motor Corporation,” but something much more ambitious: “We want to cultivate it as a brand that brings the spirit of Japan―the pride of Japan―out into the world.”

There are scant details on specs for Century vehicles at the moment, nor confirmation of where in the world they will be sold. But the stakes are high and the intention is clear—to be the best again. 

Ferrari’s trio of consecutive victories at Le Mans has inspired another historic feat for the preeminent marque: its first digital hypercar. Following a 50-year absence, Ferrari returned to the world’s most prestigious endurance race in 2023 with the 499P prototype, a carbon-structured technical marvel featuring a 296-derived 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6 combined with a front electric motor that together produce a maximum of 680 horsepower at any given time, per FIA regulations.

In that year, Le Mans’ centenary, the 499P earned Ferrari its first overall win since 1965. In 2024, the factory car had triumphed again at the 8.5-mile Circuit de la Sarthe, while in 2025, a privately purchased 499P won it for a hat trick, allowing Ferrari to join fellow consecutive Le Mans-three-peaters Toyota and Audi in keeping the 24K gold trophy permanently.

In name, the F76 seen here harks all the way back to when the Touring-bodied 166 MM barchetta became the first Prancing Horse to win Le Mans 76 years ago in 1949. But in form, the F76 aims to “prefigure the shapes of Ferraris of the future…. where form, function and performance merge as a single organism.”

Created by the Ferrari Styling Centre led by Flavio Manzoni, the F76 isn’t a racer. There are separate driver and passenger cells, which create the distinctive “double fuselage” shape, conceived in “a quest for maximum purity in airflow management.” The design allows for a central underbody channel that effectively turns the car’s body into a ground effect-creating wing. The sides feature one of the only elements shared by extant Ferraris—the vertical cuts the recall those found on the flagship F80. Follow the 3D livery superimposed on these cuts to the central area between the driver and passenger cells to find lateral louvres, a signature Ferrari feature found on the 250 series, the 296 Speciale, and many others in between.

The front also extrapolates on the F80, taking the floating splitter found on the latest in Ferrari’s Supercar lineage to an extreme with a band suspended between the wings. The two pairs of retractable headlights, positioned laterally under the suspended band, represent the link between the legacy of Ferrari’s 1970s and ‘80s pop-up headlights and the futuristic character of the F76.

Meanwhile, the unique tails of the passenger/driver cells help aid in optimal cooling, while the rear features two vertical profiles that are sculpted exactly to the vehicle’s track width. Four iconic taillights are integrated into the wing, eliminating the need for any weight-adding or line-interrupting fixtures.

The interior may be the most forward-thinking feature. Per Ferrari, “Two separate cockpits, utilizing drive-by-wire technology, synchronize every driving component, from the steering wheel to the pedals, allowing both occupants to experience and share sensations in real time, elevating both the emotional and technical participation in the driving experience.”

While tempting to think of the F76 as a concept, it’s actually a non-fungible token (NFT) that was designed for clients of Ferrari’s Hyperclub program, which offers its most cherished clients extra access to facets of its endurance racing program, as well as tokens and smart contracts. If the F76 ever did exit the digital realm and enter the factory, we’re here for it.