Every Formula 1 race weekend, first-time spectators ramp up their searches for a styling question: "Is there a dress code for the Grand Prix?" Model and paddock regular Winnie Harlow can save them the trip to Google. Her answer is none at all—not for her, at least.
Harlow was a regular in the stands at the circuit's most legendary tracks years before Drive to Survive started streaming. She's close friends with Ferrari driver (and 2025 Met Gala co-chair) Lewis Hamilton. Her father is a mechanic—motorsport, like her sense of style, is practically in her DNA. So when Harlow attends a race, she doesn't have to resort to checkered flag prints or vintage Pirelli jackets to feel on-theme.
"I feel like if you've seen my outfits for F1, anytime I've gone, they've all been pretty different," she tells me on the eve of the 2025 Miami Grand Prix. "I just kind of go with the flow—I just like to wear things that I like. It's not necessarily a dress code, per se."
Indeed, she's flitted from Fendi athleisure sets to Canadian tuxedos printed with Louis Vuitton monograms. Last her, her highlight at the Monaco Grand Prix was a white Blumarine dress with rosettes at each shoulder. She has a phrase for pieces like that: "the moment."
"I just really loved the way that it fit," she explains. "I feel like sometimes I just pick one piece and I'm like, no, that's it."
This season, she's channeling her intuition into a project that gives other F1 fans a chance to find their own moment-worthy items. Harlow curated an edit of pre-loved designer pieces for an exclusive eBay auction launching on May 2, the official start of Miami race weekend. Items lined up on the auction grid include a Cartier Santos Octagon watch, a Spring 2004 Roberto Cavalli dress coated in a baroque jungle print, and a Gucci Jackie Nailhead bag. A 1993 Porsche 911 Carrera 4 Cabriolet rounds out the edit for the most ambitious bidder to drive home.
Bids start at $0.57, in a nod to the total laps F1 drivers will take around the official course on May 4. They'll remain open on eBay until May 12. All proceeds will benefit a cause close to Harlow's heart:Vitiligo Support International, a nonprofit providing vitiligo education, research, and awareness.
"Everything kind of tied together so naturally: the fashion side of it, the race side of it, the charity side of it," Harlow says. Baking an extra initiative into her race weekend itinerary felt like a seamless F1 pitstop: smooth and easy. "Everything was just so authentic and true to me."
Harlow only required that the pieces reflected what she herself would wear in the stands. A Tiffany watch crafted in 18-karat gold passed the test; so did a Moschino vest with "Ciao" embossed into the leather. She worked closely with Brie Welch, eBay's newly named resident stylist and the mastermind behind Katie Holmes's best outfits, to vet each of the pieces and style them into a racetrack campaign. (All with the Porsche in the backdrop, of course.)
"I really wanted all of the looks to really be like my style, whether it was a dress or baggy pants, because my taste and my style is very eclectic," Harlow says.
As Harlow paired thigh-high vintage Celine boots with a collared Gucci cocktail dress, she unlocked a new level to the Formula 1 outfit circuit. "I was like, oh, wait, I could be a stylist," she says. "I had a little bit more faith in myself and putting things together after this."
Before bidding opened, I ask Harlow what she planned to wear for the Miami Grand Prix. Between the start of her handpicked auction and her grand entrance back at the track, it's a weekend that demands even more of a "moment" than her usual. She senses it—and decides to let the cameras have first dibs anyway. "I'll leave that for a surprise," she laughs. I'm sure it won't be like anything fans have seen before.
Winnie Harlow's eBay curation for Miami race weekend is open for bidding through May 12. All proceeds will benefit Vitiligo Support International.
