Pharrell Delivers a True Pop Culture Moment at Louis Vuitton
The livestream of Pharrell Williams’s debut show for Louis Vuitton began with Pupil King, a short film by Todd Tourso. Sitting on a bench along the River Seine in Paris, wearing a black knit vest and a brown LV monogram leather cap, comedian Jerrod Carmichael asks artist Henry Taylor, “Do you admit to yourself how bad you want it?” Carmichael slams the back of his hand against his palm. “Sometimes I don’t say, like, truly how badly I want it.”
“Actions speak louder than words,” says Taylor, apologizing for the cliché. Shortly after that, models began to descend from the illuminated Pont Neuf, the oldest standing bridge crossing the river.
Williams has not said much since being named creative director for menswear by Louis Vuitton in February, a position that had remained vacant since 41-year-old Virgil Abloh’s unexpected passing in November 2021. Instead, much was said of Williams. Online, fashion fans and music fans duked it out over whether a famous hip-hop multi-hyphenate made sense in one of the top design jobs in the industry. But everyone could agree the hiring indicated a shift of Louis Vuitton’s focus, one that placed culture at the center.
Leading up to the show, Pietro Beccari, who was appointed CEO of the house in January, told The New York Times, “It was important that we found someone having a broader spectrum than being a very fantastic designer, which is great for the industry and we have many of them.” Later on in the piece, Williams would go on to mention that he has no delusions about who he is and what he is capable of: “I am a creative designer from the perspective of the consumer. I didn’t go to Central Saint Martins. But I definitely went to the stores and purchased, and I know what I like.”
His first designs for the house fit this framework. Covered in the brand’s signature prints and monograms, they telegraphed Louis Vuitton from a distance. But they were also imbued with a sense of impenitent joy that was paramount to the show. A handful of the first models wore tailored suits with matching shorts, a look Williams has become personally associated with on the red carpet. Others wore rain boots and carried mini trunks covered in a digitized version of Vuitton’s Damier check pattern, the original of which was reimagined in jacquard and pearl embroidery throughout. The classic Speedy bag was revived in bright primary colors and dangled along long legs ending in chunky socks and lug-soled T-strap Mary Janes.
They are the kind of pieces a customer might save up for to prove to themselves and those around them that they’ve made it. They are bold, like the types of looks our favorite artists pull together to stand out on the red carpet. They are why “quiet luxury” can only ever go so far—because the pleasures of perceived opulence are far more relatable, whether anyone cares to admit it or not.
Williams is considered one of the best-dressed men in music, and his own personal style clearly served as inspiration for a handful of looks, perhaps none more obvious than that worn by former Saint Laurent creative director Stefano Pilati. Pilati’s glasses were lined in pearls that framed his eyes, his tailored jacket embroidered in pearl Damier and styled with pleated wool shorts. While being self-referential can be perceived as egotistical, it doesn’t feel that way when Williams does it. There’s an undeniable earnestness to it, as if he’s telling us: I know you want to dress like your favorite artist—and that’s fine!
It’s why a couple of days before his debut, he rolled out an ad campaign starring Rihanna in an unbuttoned leather button-down with her pregnant belly exposed and colorful green, yellow and red Speedy bags nestled in the crooks of her elbows. Her name trended for days after, indicating a true cultural moment—which is exactly what Williams seems to be promising to give the brand. There are plenty of designers creating works of art that reflect our reality, or gorgeous shapes that consumers want to feel on their bodies, but there aren’t many who have been able to deliver these kinds of pop culture escapes. It’s why today’s youth are enamored with the red carpet of the early 2000s. It represents something unserious and fun: glamour without complications.
Recent Louis Vuitton designers, particularly Marc Jacobs and Abloh, have a history of providing fashion fit for the moment. Throughout his collection, Williams nodded to their work, including Jacobs’s top-handle Alma bag silhouettes, which became paparazzi photo staples in the Aughts. He created his digital camouflage print as an homage to a 2019 pixelated pattern first introduced by Abloh. And he introduced a bit of himself, with an LVERS emblem on varsity jackets that references the “Virginia Is for Lovers” slogan of his home state. The bold Speedys were meant to evoke dupe culture—picture fake bags in colors you know a house doesn’t produce lining the sidewalk of Canal Street. While Williams brings plenty of star power—Zendaya, Beyoncé, and Jay-Z were in the front row in Paris—there was also a sense that he wants his Louis Vuitton to be for everyone, old fans of the brand and new.
Williams also just seemed to want to have fun, with a choir at the end of the runway creating a celebratory tone. When he came out to take his bow, he brought his entire design team with him. He spent more than five minutes on the runway, soaking in the moment with a genuine exuberance that’s rare in the fashion industry. It’s clear he’d been dreaming of this moment, and he wasn’t afraid to show how badly he wanted it.
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