Fast & Furious & Fashion in Malaga

Based on more-please response to my guest column for Forbes (Full Stream Ahead: How the Arts Industry Is Coping in 2021) I want to share nine exhibition stories. From gloves-on-volcanos in Tenerife…. welcome to Málaga, Spain.

November 2017. Three years later, this remains a singularly spectacular museum visit in all my travels. Founded by Joao Magalhaes, the Automobile and Fashion Museum in Málaga is a stunning curatorial statement on a relationship between design, conflicting ideas of taste and historical zeitgeist. If you ever get to Malaga, forget Picasso and Antonio Banderas and whatever else the city prides itself on. Go here first. Heck, book a trip to Malaga just for this extraordinary collection of who-is-who in the world of cars and couture. Start with their Instagram for quality edutainment. The genius of the concept is in its multi-faceted appeal: unique engineering marvels, rare vintage showstoppers, excellent side-notes, plus the Bond stuff and the Formula 1 stuff, signature looks from style icons, and to top it off the famously bedazzled limousine Elizabeth Taylor and Michael Jackson were riding around Hollywood in at the heyday of their weird-ship. I was dragging my jaw around the immaculately polished floors of a former tobacco factory for hours.

Remarkably, Magalhaes had a hard time finding a home for his idea. Allegedly when he approached several cities in his native Portugal with an offer to open a museum if a suitable space could be secured long-term, he did not find much enthusiasm. I bet those municipal councils are [insert your metaphor for regret here] now that Museo Automovilistico y de la Moda ranks number ONE on Tripadvisor among all the things to do in Malaga. A phenomenal achievement for a cultural institution that’s only ten years old. I took a million pictures, bought half the gift store, and have not stopped plotting what could I possibly do for/with/at the museum in the near(est) future. For now, I leave you with a few of my favorite images from the visit that overwhelmed me with joy as a fashion media professional, cinema lover, history nerd and a kid-within. Vroom, vroom, lights, camera, style!