Above from left to right: Offwhite packable waterproof parka, £690, yellow knit top, £159 and navy tapered pants, £170; yellow packable waterproof parka, £690, knit sweater, £225 and offwhite cargo pants, £215; yellow packable waterproof parka, £690, colourblock yellow and white knit top, £130 and yellow water-repellent tapered pants, £170; offwhite packable waterproof parka, £690, offwhite seamless 3D knit crewneck jumper, £215 and navy water-repellent tapered pants, £170. All AlphaTauri

The strategic decision to join forces with F1 racing team Toro Rosso and rename it Scuderia AlphaTauri in 2020 shows how strongly the brand believes in its newest venture.

But aligning this fashion label with F1 is not simply a way to add glamour; it speaks of a design philosophy. In a contemporary fashion landscape that is painted as a bucolic idyll, with brands often celebrating heritage, AlphaTauri is markedly unusual in that it is forward-looking and technologically based.

It has a plethora of innovative materials to play with. In conjunction with Swiss textile specialist Schoeller, AlphaTauri has developed the unicorn of technical fabrics: a material that is not only waterproof and breathable, but also soft. This Taurobran® three-layer membrane is at the heart of the current collection, in trousers, sweats and jackets – notably the Koov and Kaav parkas for men and women respectively, which are arguably the hero pieces of the brand.

Many AlphaTauri products have smart features that clearly answer a demand from users. Many of the outerwear garments have an integrated packing system. The parka hoods have perforated sections at ear level to help you hear traffic etc. There’s even a range called Heatable, developed with Deutsche Telekom, with elements that control temperature via an app.

Outerwear and knitwear are the main focus of a collection engineered for a metropolitan lifestyle. And as this lifestyle becomes more and more flexible, and demand grows for clothing that can perform different roles throughout the day, AlphaTauri is designed to constantly enable the wearer to navigate this shifting landscape. These are clothes that protect you from the elements while you’re on the commute, are functional and comfortable at the office and good-looking and stylish enough to accompany you to dinner.

In other words, AlphaTauri successfully bridges the gap between style and functionality – it’s a fashion brand, not a technical sportswear brand – and aesthetic is certainly not overlooked. The spring/summer 2022 collection focuses on the meeting of colour and shape. Like a Mondrian painting, off-white dominates to set the parameters of the silhouette, before colour blocks of yellow, jade, lilac and more offer a flourish.

This Modernist styling is just as much a response to current fashion’s conservatism as the brand’s cleaving to technology. Mi-Kyong Yeom, head of design, says it clearly: ‘Taking inspiration from the clean lines of architecture, such as the work by Finnish architect Alvar Aalto, the styles in this collection combine a minimal aesthetic with fresh colours and prints.’

It’s fitting, then, that Austria’s last great fashion label, Helmut Lang, was a pioneer of a minimalist aesthetic in the 1980s.

The difference, however, is that these innovations have purpose: for example, pioneering 3D-knitting to make literally seamless garments, reducing waste. More traditionally, the future vision includes a first international flagship store outside Austria, opening on Brompton Road in autumn. Like its celestial namesake, AlphaTauri could become the brightest star in the constellation of the bull.

The collection from AlphaTauri is available from alphatauri.com