In a world that's seen everything from a Gucci-branded AMC Hornet to the Virgil Abloh Maybach, there's one designer-automotive (or at least automotive aftermarket) partnership out there that's so obscure, you may not know about it—despite it involving one of 20th century fashion's most prominent names. We're talking about A.C. Courrèges wheels, a tie-up between Japan's Yamaco Industries and French designer André Courrèges and his wife, Jacqueline Barrière.

If you're not familiar with André Courrèges, you're at least familiar with his work. Courrèges was one of the founders of the space-age fashion movement of the 1960s, leaving behind the creased formality of the 1950s in favor of miniskirts, peekaboo A-line dresses, and white ankle boots. Basically, picture a Braniff airlines cabin crew walking through McCarran International in 1968. That's André Courrèges. (Plus he apparently inspired Larry David's getup in "The Flaming Globes of Sigmund." -Ed.)

Fast-forward to the 1980s, and A.C. Courrèges ("A.C." standing for André and—as his wife was known—Coqueline) had branched out and were ready to take on the automotive equivalent of high-end footwear: aftermarket wheels. “I want to run them on an open car under a full blue sky," was André's alleged take on the designs.

It has to be said that for a man who made his name on breaking from the straight lines of 1950s fashion, it's ironic (Maybe—the meaning's been lost since 1995. -Ed.) that the Courrèges name appeared on something that so perfectly complimented the rectilinear automotive designs of the '80s.

But that's what happened, and Courrèges staked a claim in auto that Emilio Pucci (ironically, the designer of the afore-mentioned Braniff uniforms) could only dream of.

Remembering André Courrèges [via Vogue]