Growing up, my mother drove a black Volvo 240, which she managed to purchase off the dealership floor before the model’s 19-year production run came to a close. Its modest styling and safety-first form articulated dependability, durability, and Scandinavian simplicity for a strength that would cement the automaker’s iconic, boxy saloon into 1990s zeitgeist. I laud the brand for their ability to preserve that visual language through changing tastes and the aesthetic theater that comes with electrification.
For seven decades now, Volvo’s presence in the United States has been defined by a rare duality: quiet confidence and unmistakable impact. It’s a self-described “Scandinavian tonality” grounded in clarity, craft, and human-centricity, backed by a belief that true luxury is felt rather than flaunted. Power through calm. Influence through subtlety. Impact through purity. As Volvo celebrates its 70th anniversary in the United States, that ethos seeps out of the automotive world and onto the runway through a limited-edition collaboration with American fashion designer Sergio Hudson.
Hudson, renowned for dressing First Ladies, supermodels, cultural icons and, most recently, nearly 20 guests at the 2025 Met Gala, brings his signature philosophy of “power dressing” to the partnership. Yet it isn’t flashiness that defines this capsule collection – it’s discipline. For Hudson, power is a study in structure, tailoring, and intentionality. For Volvo, power lies in their purposeful forms, material performance, and calming surfaces.
When these worlds converged to reinterpret the Volvo EX90’s cabin materials as wearable objects, both parties chose intention over novelty, recognizing that quiet design can be profoundly powerful. What’s more, it illustrates how design philosophies can migrate across forms without losing meaning, and in doing so, create new entry points for user experience.
“We see our Scandinavian tonality as a form of power dressing for our cars, each with its own distinct personality,” says Cilla Stark, Senior Design Manager for CMF Vision at Volvo Cars. “Rather than relying on excess, it uses purposeful forms, honest materials and calm surfaces to project confidence through simplicity. In an industry often defined by visual noise, that quiet, deliberate language stands out – making it undeniably bold.”
Hudson’s pieces make this parallel visible. His Tailored Wool Blend Car Coat, crafted from the same responsibly sourced wool used in the EX90’s upholstery, is sharply structured yet softened by the material honesty that defines Volvo’s cabins. Its oversized silhouette – a signature of Hudson’s – supports driving comfort while maintaining sculptural elegance, a harmony of utility and beauty that mirrors Scandinavian design’s roots in functional artistry.
The Nordico in Dawn Belt – a couture reinterpretation of the three-point safety belt, an industry innovation invented by Volvo engineer Nils Bohlin in 1959 – extends that synergy into accessories. By translating the EX90’s bio-attributed PVC material and recycled polyester textile backing into fashionable items, Hudson elevates an everyday protective device into an object of symbolic strength.
While automotive and fashion materials rarely overlap, the collaboration demonstrates just how naturally they can speak the same visual and tactile language. Volvo’s sustainably minded materials – particularly Nordico – are engineered for durability, comfort, longevity, and low environmental impact. The collaboration allowed these materials to shift context revealing new dimensions in their draping, their structural integrity, and their ability to hold form when refashioned into garments. Hudson’s interpretation reinforces a core belief: responsibly developed luxury materials have a narrative deeper than the surfaces they cover.
Beyond aesthetics, the collaboration is born from a shared geography – South Carolina. The Volvo EX90 is assembled in Ridgeville; Sergio Hudson hails from Ridgeway. The connection shaped not only the storytelling but the authenticity of the project. More than a meeting of industries, it’s a convergence of communities, craftsmanship, and local pride.
At its essence, this partnership reveals an unexpected truth: Volvo’s Scandinavian design DNA and Hudson’s power dressing are two expressions of the same idea. Hudson’s work brings out the confidence embedded in Volvo’s interiors; Volvo’s design language reveals the quiet power that underpins Hudson’s tailoring. One favors calmness, the other structure, but both see grace in discipline and confidence in simplicity. And both rely on clarity of intent, mastery of material, and an unwavering belief that design should elevate how one moves through the world. As the lines between fashion and automotive dissolve, what remains here is design purity – intentional, human-centered, and powerfully understated.
To learn more about the shopable Volvo x Sergio Hudson collection, available for a limited time, visit volvocars.com.
Photography courtesy of Volvo.