PARIS — On the opening day of men’s fashion week — and over a year and a half after the untimely death of designer Virgil Abloh — all eyes turned to Paris’ historic Pont Neuf bridge where designers Jonathan Anderson, Chitose Abe and Camille Miceli and global stars including Beyoncé and Kim Kardashian gathered for the much-awaited debut of Pharrell Williams at the creative helm of Louis Vuitton menswear.
LVMH spared no expense in the mega-production, which took place over the Seine, steps from Louis Vuitton headquarters and the LVMH group’s glimmering Cheval Blanc hotel: The brand covered the bridge in gold checkerboard. Guests were brought in by boat, champagne and canapés were served, and the runway was followed by a booming concert featuring Jay-Z.
This was not just a fashion show, but a total happening.
So what about the clothes? A collage of this and that, and a foray into the house’s archive. From tailoring to sports, there was a bit of everything. The best looks had the same quirk one can see in Pharrell’s own sense of personal style. The emphasis on the house’s damier felt a bit institutional, but the pixelated camo looks using the motif — which tapped into the same crypto-punk aesthetic as recent Loewe — had freshness and appeal.
Pharrell’s appointment coincided with Vuitton’s coming out as a “cultural brand.” This means that at €20 billion in annual revenues, Vuitton is in the process of outgrowing fashion as its primary vehicle for generating buzz. Luxury and entertainment have long merged; fashion brands now aim at creating culture themselves (to whatever extent culture can be based on commerce).
As such, Pharrell’s output was as much about the clothes as it was about the overall spirit — which was especially accentuated by the music — and about driving home a commercially potent message: Louis Vuitton is Paris; Louis Vuitton is travel, music and culture writ large. The challenge — and opportunity — going forward is how to harness such a powerful, historic brand — including all the checkerboards and monograms that come with it — without weighing things down. It will take some more work to lift it all up — but this is just the beginning of a new chapter with Pharrell at Louis Vuitton.
