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 Cars and clothing are two of the most revealing things about a person,” the Petersen’s curator, Leslie Kendall, noted during a recent press preview of the exhibition. “Especially in L.A., where cars are almost like another layer of clothing you wear when you go out into the world.”

Despite Southern California’s fascination with the automobile, the current exhibition, which runs through Jan. 23, has a starting line about 400 miles east, in Phoenix.

That’s where, in 2007, the curator of fashion design at the Phoenix Art Museum, Dennita Sewell, found herself opening an early iteration of the “Automotivated” exhibit, highlighting the influence of cars on the fashion world, but relying on illustrations instead of the actual cars. At the same time, the museum was mounting another car-themed exhibition called “Curves of Steel: Streamlined Automobile Design,” which just so happened to include a car borrowed from the Petersen’s collection.