Quick Takes: Mercedes-Benz Marks 140 Years With a Fashion Show
The brand pairs seven historic cars with seven soccer nations and a KidSuper capsule collection. The bench responds.
Mercedes-Benz said it has paired seven historic vehicles with seven soccer nations for a collaboration with designer Colm Dillane and his label KidSuper, marking the brand's 140th anniversary. According to the company, the pairings are the 220 SE for Brazil (1958), the SSK for Uruguay (1928), the 300 SL Coupe for Germany (1954), the 450 SEL 6.9 for Argentina (1978), the G 500 for France (1998), the 600 for England (1966) and the SLS AMG Coupe Electric Drive Concept for Spain (2010). The collaboration was presented at a runway show in Miami on June 25, which Mercedes-Benz said was KidSuper's first main collection show outside Paris. A limited capsule collection will be available in fall 2026, the company said.
One hundred and forty years ago a man patented the automobile and changed what a human being was allowed to do with a morning. Mercedes-Benz marked that anniversary in Miami by pairing seven old cars with seven soccer countries and a limited fall capsule of menswear, patches and bespoke accessories. The 300 SL deserved a road, not a runway. They had the whole history of motion to celebrate. They celebrated it with a jacket.
A company turns 140 and celebrates with seven cars next to seven jerseys in Miami, plus a capsule arriving fall 2026. Look at the lineup. Six combustion classics and, for Spain, the SLS AMG Coupe Electric Drive Concept. From 2010. A concept. The one electric car in the room is the oldest idea of the future Mercedes brought, still wearing a placeholder badge. That is not a celebration of innovation. It is the future on layaway, paid down one fashion show at a time.
I will defend the bracket. Choosing each car by the year of its nation's greatest soccer triumph is the most charming idea Stuttgart has had in a decade: the SSK to Uruguay's 1928, the 300 SL to Germany's 1954, the 600 to England's 1966. As a parlor game of taste it is faultless. Then you remember that the only object you can actually own at the end of it is a jacket. A marque that built the 600 to carry presidents has paired it, beautifully, with a patch.