Team merchandise has been flying off the shelves ahead of the Las Vegas Grand Prix – but one independent brand is aiming to bring Formula 1 back into fashion for female fans seeking something different.
The Grandstand Project is the brainchild of business student Sherry Ma, a long-standing F1 supporter who had been growing restless at the lack of fashion-focused clothing for race-going fans.
Despite being just months old, Grandstand Project will host its first-ever pop-up shop in Las Vegas on race day bringing Ma’s unique outfits to those on The Strip.
"Throughout college I always watched the races and it sort of took over my life, especially going towards the senior year of college,” she told Autosport.
“It wasn't until after graduating, though, when I started making what I call ‘adult money’ when I was able to afford to go.
“I didn't realise how bad the clothing options really, really were until I was actually looking for an outfit to wear to the Las Vegas race last year.
“I went to all of the Formula 1 websites, all of the sponsorships, all of the partnerships. And there is just a severe lack of product out there for female fans.
“When you think about a race in Vegas specifically, you have the mindset of: ‘I'm going to Vegas. I want to wear a dress. I want to feel pretty. I want to go to the clubs and be with my friends, but at the same time, I'm there as an authentic fan, so I also want to represent my team’.
“That just doesn't really align with wearing the men's wear that they typically sell – or a hat, and then also wanting to go out afterwards. So what I ended up doing was what most female Formula 1 fans do, which is I did it myself.
“I reworked a piece, I made my own jacket, and I think it just further proved that there's a real need for it, because I couldn't go five minutes on The Strip without being stopped and asked where my jacket was from.”
Ma took inspiration from quite a high-profile example of reworking the clothing available.
Kristin Juszczyk, the fashion designer wife of San Francisco 49ers full-back Kyle Juszczyk, designed a jacket for the girlfriend of another NFL star – it just so happened to be Travis Kelce, with the garment worn by Taylor Swift.
“That really drove it home too, I think, earlier this year, with Taylor Swift and Kristin Juszczyk – that was all over the news, and all of the female sports fans were asking, ‘Where do we get stuff like this?’,” Ma added.
“That's kind of where it all started. I got to brainstorming, and I got some friends together, we started dreaming and drawing and thinking about how we can fix this problem, and that's how the Grandstand Project came to be.
“So at its core, our mission really is to support women in motorsports, but also in all aspects of motorsport and the automotive industry - all of the models for the inaugural collection, which is designed specifically for Las Vegas, are all real car girls that I've met at car meets.
“There are a few Formula 1 fan girls in there as well, who post on TikTok and there's this one girl, she actually goes by ‘McLaren Girl’ because she specifically reviews McLaren merch.
“Another one of the models, she's the president of Car Girls of Los Angeles and then another one of the girls, she's a mechanic, and she also does drag racing on weekends.”
Studying at UCLA, Ma also went back to community college to study fashion merchandising, an Adobe Illustrator course and how to speak to those within the industry.
Ma’s desire of growing the female presence in F1 has seen her commit to donating 3% of proceeds to women in motorsport initiatives.
“The Grandstand Project is very much your traditional startup," she continued. "It's coming out of my own pocket and my own credit cards, dealing with clothing and inventory when I don't have investors or people behind me that are able to really give me that soft landing in case anything goes wrong.
“Every single woman I've reached out to about Grandstand they were always immediately on board, immediately wanting to participate.
“We have our very first pop-up shop to celebrate the collection this weekend. It's in collaboration with car enthusiast groups.
“Most notably, it's Car Girls of Las Vegas, they brought me on to this existing event that they were already having and it's actually a toy drive for the holidays as well.
“So it's this like mix and match of charity and wanting to just give back and support and show the love that comes from the car community.”
With Ma in Vegas, the one key question left to ask – which design will she be sporting when she heads to the track?
“Well, I've actually been debating," she said. "I feel like Max is going to win the championship, so I should wear one of the blue, Red Bull-themed pantsuits. But also I have a personal bias for Ferrari, so I also want to wear one of those pieces.
“One of the pieces is actually designed where you can zip it down and have it hang from your waist, just like the race suits that they wear, that's one of my favourite pieces. So I also want to wear that, but I definitely will be wearing my own pieces this weekend.
“There's also a few Formula 1 influencers that also reached out and want to wear some pieces and I feel like it would be really cute for us to be together and be a group.”
