DESIGNED FOR LIFE
Black wool coat, Neil Barrett; pale grey ribbed cashmere jumper, Ermenegildo Zegna Couture; grey wool checked trousers, Anderson & Sheppard Haberdashery; black leather brogue front Oxford shoes, Crockett & Jones; and grey cotton socks, Falke.
In the Bible it is the number of physical and spiritual completeness and perfection. So it’s apt that the figure 7 has represented automotive pre-eminence ever since BMW’s flagship saloon — the first full-size performance car to emanate from its Dingolfing factory in Germany — began gracing the world’s metropolises in May 1977.
It wasn’t, let’s be frank, the most universally stylish point of the post-war era. Rod Stewart was topping the charts while making his unedifying stylistic transition from tartan to leopard print, while the screen dandy of the era sported was released the same month as the E23). But the 7 Series, with its stark, linear elegance derived from the art deco sensibilities of Paul Bracq and Wilhelm Hofmeister, injected more than a soupçon of style savvy into an era in need of it.
