“I am overly ambitious, because I realize it can be done”, Pharrell Williams.
The American musician, DJ and record producer a multi-talented star Pharrell Williams takes over as creative director of men’s wear for the Louis Vuitton. Pharrell Williams is hoping to build on the shift towards US streetwear that helped it achieve more than 20 billion euros in revenue for the first time last year.
His appointment as the creative director of Vuitton’s men’s business is a blaring acknowledgment of the power of black cultural capital on a global stage and a watershed moment in the absorption of hip hop class politics into luxury fashion. Mr. Williams was voted “Best Dressed Man in the World” by Esquire in 2005, corroborating the fact that he is the perfect choice for the role.
Men’s Fashion Week in Paris
The appointment is effective immediately and his first collection will debut in June during Men’s Fashion Week in Paris. The debut of Pharrell Williams at Louis Vuitton is the hottest ticket at Paris Fashion Week as it kicks off on Tuesday, seen as a significant moment in the evolution of the multi-billion-dollar industry. The show will mark 5 years after Abloh’s celebrated debut collection for the brand, where the audience included Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, Rihanna, ASAP Rocky, Takashi Murakami, Travis Scott and more. More than 2,000 guests attended the event, held at the Palais Royal, including thousands of local students that Abloh had personally invited. The show featured a total of 56 looks.
Succession
The talented Pharrell Williams will succeed Virgil Abloh as Louis Vuitton’s men’s creative director, according to a statement issued by the French luxury fashion house on Tuesday.
The news comes a little over a year after Abloh’s death in November 2021, age 41, following a private battle with cancer. The visionary designer Abloh’s unexpected passing sent shockwaves through the industry and beyond. Abloh made history as the first Black creative director of Louis Vuitton, when he was appointed in 2018 and was widely credited for bringing a younger demographic to the Louis Vuitton fashion house with designs that brought a streetwear aesthetic to the luxury world.
News of Williams’ appointment ends months of speculation over who would succeed Abloh.
Pharrell Williams also offered a teaser on social media. He shared a photo of himself in front of the Orsay Museum featuring a giant billboard of singer Rihanna, heavily pregnant and sporting colorful LV bags.
“It’s unprecedented for a label at this level, a designer arriving with a first menswear campaign that features a woman… He is giving us an early taste,” said Pierre Alexandre M’Pele, editor of GQ France.
Analysts and forecasters reacted to Pharrell Williams’ recent appointment as creative director of menswear at Louis Vuitton without surprise. If anyone could fill the shoes of the multi-hyphenate late designer Virgil Abloh, it would be Williams.
“Pharrell is one of the most well-known multi hyphenates,” says Sarah Unger, president and founder of Cultique, a cultural insights and strategy consultancy. “He crystallized our understanding of the industry agnostic cultural appeal a musician can have. LV is a very multi-hyphenate brand, beyond a typical fashion house. Pharrell will have lots of arenas to play in.”
“I am glad to welcome Pharrell back home, after our collaborations in 2004 and 2008 for Louis Vuitton, as our new Men’s Creative Director,” said Pietro Beccari, Louis Vuitton’s chairman and CEO in a statement. “His creative vision beyond fashion will undoubtedly lead Louis Vuitton towards a new and very exciting chapter.”
“Pharrell Williams is a visionary whose creative universes expand from music to art, and to fashion, establishing himself as a cultural global icon over the past 20 years,” the luxury label wrote in an Instagram post revealing the news. “The way in which he breaks boundaries across the various worlds he explores, aligns with Louis Vuitton’s status as a Cultural Maison, reinforcing its values of innovation, pioneer spirit, and entrepreneurship.”
While Williams, a 13 time Grammy winner, is better known for his music career, the 49-year-old has a robust set of fashion credentials, too. He cofounded streetwear label Billionaire Boys Club in 2003 with fashion designer Nigo and has collaborated with a slew of luxury brands including Tiffany & Co., Moncler and Adidas.
From a huge brown topper hat he wore to the 2014 Grammy Awards to his now signature bejeweled Tiffany shades, Williams’s daring personal style often makes headlines and he is no stranger to fashion’s front row.
Much like Abloh, Williams’ creativity is cross disciplinary.
How Williams will apply his skillset to his new role at Louis Vuitton remains to be seen but a flurry of industry reactions to the news across social media suggest he’ll have a packed house at his first show this summer.
“There is no doubt that Pharrell will likely make his unique impact based on his outsized style sensibilities,” says Hemant Kalbag, managing director, Alvarez & Marsal Consumer Retail Group. “But I don’t anticipate a fundamental directional change. That said, Pharrell will help keep LV relevant to the next generation of LV customers.”
Williams’ multidisciplinary resume might offer clues of what customers can expect from his tenure at Louis Vuitton, notes Kayla Marci, a market analyst at Edited.
Williams’ strong connection to the music community will attract new consumers, Kalbag estimates.
“However, the fundamental demographic younger, more urban, social media savvy is unlikely to change as a draw,” Kalbag says. “It is unclear if Pharrell will have the same global draw as Virgil, who often collaborated with designers worldwide, albeit his global presence and household name recognition far exceeds that of Virgil.”
“His impact on streetwear, amplified via his personal style and Billionaire Boys Club and Ice Cream labels, reinforces the culture’s continued role in luxury, carrying on Virgil Abloh’s legacy,” Marci says.
Williams’ partnerships with Adidas showcases his ability to foray into heritage products and refresh the vibe for a new generation, i.e. Samba, which could translate into upcoming collections at Vuitton, the analyst projects.
“Through contemporizing legacy styles and house codes,” Marci says. “His history with the sporting giant also fuels speculation of a future Louis Vuitton x Adidas collaboration.”
What more to expect in future
Whatever creative route Williams takes at Vuitton, his inaugural fashion collection in June will be highly anticipated and met with intense scrutiny, Marci says. “Williams has been living in hip hop, and looking into the future, for more than 20 years, a valuable perspective for a luxury men’s wear world that has already absorbed hip hop and is hoping to divine what might come next,” the New York Times wrote after his appointment.
Williams’s arrival is possibly at the most apt time when men’s fashion is on the more exciting side of the industry.
“Men’s fashion took years to find fertile ground for evolution, but it’s now doing so more visibly than womenswear,” said fashion consultant Pascaline Wilhelm. “The way gender, masculinity and femininity are being called into question at the moment allows it to be much more creative without falling into caricature,” she added.
Mr. Williams at the men’s atelier said, “A ruler of a position is usually like a king,” he said. “But a ruler of this position for me is a perpetual student. It’s what I intend to be”.
