Cadillac will continue its confident stride into the world of fashion with the reveal of the 2017Â XT5Â during New York Fashion Week. Which included one airlift over the Hudson River to get the people talking.
How exactly does the introduction of the brand’s latest crossover mesh with the world of fashion, you ask? Turns out the company will partner with a fashion design house called Public School, who will debut its Pre-Fall collection on the eve of the Dubai Motor Show in collaboration with the launch of the new Cadillac crossover, based on the new Chi platform, or C1xx.
Specially invited guests to the show will also receive Public School’s XT5-inspired “capsule collection,” whatever that looks like.
If you’ve never heard of Public School, it’s probably for good reason: The Dubai show marks its very first international runway show, which will showcase its pre-fall collection available in 2016. The Dubai Motor Show is also where we expect to get the full scoop on the 2017 Cadillac XT5, and not just photos to stare at.
(How one has a pre-fall wardrobe we aren’t quite sure, then again we aren’t exactly the most fashion-inclined bunch.)
Cadillac, on the other hand, has stepped up its foray into the fashion world in recent years. The brand previously hosted Public Schools’ spring 2016 fashion show at its new HQ in SoHo, and was the presenting sponsor of New York Men’s Day (NYMD) earlier this year.
It even has a multi-season partnership with the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), which lead to its sponsorship of the first-ever New York Fashion Week: Men’s in early spring. Heck, it even partnered with Nick Wooster to help create a different “capsule collection” of clothing just last month.
Cadillac’s new fashion fixation may seem a bit unconventional, but if it leads to increased brand awareness among an affluent and stylish demographic, it will likely be worth it.
Comments
The so-called new XT5 is a sorry continuation of the old poorly designed Saturn.
Had they brought back the GM Envoy Denali and rebadged it, keeping the V8 and rear wheel drive they would be on the right track IMHO. At least you could see out the rear quarter windows.
Wrong platform. The Saturn Vue was on Theta, whereas the XT5 is on Chi and is brand new.
GMT360’s, however, are garbage and are long out of production.
Nobody is going to bring back tired and old platforms that can’t meet 2016 crash tests.
I wish someone (anyone) could help me understand the logical connection between Cadillac and men’s fashion.
Makes a little sense, I guess, if moving to NY requires plugging-in to the fashionista crowd – maybe some of their cool factor will rub off on Cadillac. And it means Uwe and Melody will get invited to in-crowd parties and dinner parties.
But the Cadillac/cutting edge fashion connection seems, not born out of the brand, but more like a force-fit buy-in to be part of the cool crowd.
Porsche’s fashion collection, by contrast, is borne out of Porsche Design – precision design, cool limited edition Steve McQueen LeMans watch and Gulf Oil jackets. Authentic to the brand, and appealing to their audience.
Even that new performance user center for customers in Atlanta, with different test tracks and a remarkably well-designed, lovely piece of architecture.
Anyway, Cadillac’s fashion approach (capsules of men’s wear that have nothing to do with the brand), feels like new money moved into the neighborhood and is throwing Dom Perignon and sliders parties (how ironic!) in an effort to show they belong.
The audience they’re trying to attract can see inauthenticity a mile away. And downtown NY has no shortage of people who will come drink your free champagne until something better comes along. And start-up designers who need someone to bankroll their first runway show.
Cadillac meets The Devil Wears Prada.
We’ll see if that buys enough time and diversionary interest until Caddy has new product that becomes the focus, instead of VIP parties and pre-fall collections.
Maybe it will work. Hate to see what the tab is so far …
it still looks like its diving into the groung….what most of todays Caddys are….I hope Caddy ditches that look in the near future.
It just screams of the unpopular kid on the block wanting so much to be cool so they can hang with the ” it ” crowd .
:/ .
Cadillac will gang no traction marketing on fashion with down town New Yorkers. Increase sales will come from focusing on performance (i.e. keep V6 and V8), long term durability, driver engagement, value and style. Cadillac is best when it returns to its heritage of being fast, powerful, luxurious and the standard for the world. GM has one of the greatest V8 is the world in the Corvette Sting Ray, its has the Northstar which is GM present V6. In the past Cadillac were know to run with cars 3-5x its price point such Rolls Royce, Bentley, and Mercedes S class. Cadillac was never a BMW “want to be.” Cadillac led the world with luxury, power, prestige at a price point that no other automobile could ever match due the GM economy of scale, American low cost of manufacturing and good old American ingenuity. Cadillac needs to make a XT5 to compete with Porsche Cayenne at a SRX price point. Then Cadillac will once again become a world class leader.
Luxury is not a value proposition. It’s about having something that others do not, not about being valued priced to move more units than another brand.
I think it’s an interesting play by Cadillac. There is definitely money to be made in creating a lifestyle vehicle that is beautiful on the eye. Dubai is trend setting right now so Cadillac is heading in the right direction IMO.
the XT5 does looks better than the current XRS….it being a bolder turn in styling.