AMBUSH and Lexus Ask What Makes a “Future Classic” With a Limited Capsule Marking 25 Years of the IS

On September 14, Lexus and Tokyo-based fashion label AMBUSH unveiled The Future Classic Club, a project marking 25 years since the Lexus IS made its debut in the United States as a 2001 model. It arrives with a cinematic short film and a limited-edition capsule collection.

The project is creatively directed by Yoon Ahn, co-founder and creative director of AMBUSH.

At a time when novelty is constantly replaced, The Future Classic Club looks instead to designs and ideas that hold their identity beyond a single cultural moment. Bridging fashion and automotive design, it poses a deceptively simple question: what makes something a classic of the future?

Summary

Tokyo Across Two Eras

The campaign film was directed by Tokyo-based French-Canadian filmmaker and photographer Xavier Tera.

Set across two eras of the Japanese capital, it travels from the salaryman culture of the early 2000s, when the first-generation IS emerged, to Tokyo today. The city and its values have shifted, yet the unmistakable silhouette of the IS still moves through its streets.

Drawing on the visual language of early Japanese cinema, the film introduces three “club members” whose careers echo the project’s independent spirit.

The first is Sara Choi, a professional drifter who has channeled her view of car culture into her streetwear label, Badseki. She is joined by Reo Sano, a member of the dance and vocal group GENERATIONS whose work spans acting, dance, music and fashion. Completing the trio is musician and DJ Reiji Okamoto, drummer of OKAMOTO’S and curator of YAGI EXHIBITION, who moves fluidly across music, fashion, design and art.

Tokyo is more than a backdrop here. A city where cultures, disciplines and generations keep intersecting, it becomes a lens for reconsidering what a future classic might be.

Translating the Lexus IS Into Wearable Design

Under Ahn’s direction, the capsule translates elements of the Lexus IS and its 25-year design history into apparel and accessories.

Industrial hardware, structured textiles and sharply drawn lines run throughout. Rather than copying the car’s surface, AMBUSH reinterprets its precision, materials and sense of motion through the brand’s own language.

Reflecting on the project, Ahn said: “We were interested in the fact that the IS has been around for 25 years and still has a recognizable identity. That became the starting point for the collection. We looked at the details, materials and character of the car and translated them through the AMBUSH language into pieces we would actually want to wear and keep.”

At the center of the collection is the ‘FUTURE CLASSIC CLUB’ LEATHER FIREMAN JACKET, a short leather jacket whose clean lines and structured proportions are cut to allow movement behind the wheel.

The lineup also includes the ‘SEAT MEMORY’ RED QUILTED JACKET, informed by the athletic stitching of the IS interior; a graphic T-shirt pairing the Lexus logo with the curves of the car’s grille and headlights; a co-branded cap; and a chrome-finished carabiner with intricate engraving.

Beyond Disposable Hype

The Future Classic Club is meant to reach beyond the capsule itself. Lexus and AMBUSH are inviting creators, designers and thinkers to share the work, ideas and inspirations they believe deserve to last, using the hashtag #FutureClassicClub.

The project also includes a New York Fashion Week activation with PAPER Magazine, bringing together figures from fashion, music and the arts, with further events and cultural initiatives to follow.

Newness alone does not make a classic. What lasts is usually shaped by a clear point of view—one able to engage the present without being confined by it. Through this collaboration, AMBUSH and Lexus step beyond the usual boundaries of fashion and automotive design to ask what it means to create something with relevance beyond the moment.

The limited capsule collection launches on the AMBUSH official website on Friday, September 18, 2026, at midnight EDT and 1:00 p.m. JST, and arrives at AMBUSH-operated stores in Japan the same day.

Copyright © 2026 Oui Speak Fashion. All rights reserved.

The post AMBUSH and Lexus Ask What Makes a “Future Classic” With a Limited Capsule Marking 25 Years of the IS appeared first on Oui Speak Fashion (OSF)®.