Pharrell Williams has now completed three years as the leading figure in Louis Vuitton’s menswear division, having previously contributed to the brand’s designs in 2004 and 2008. Throughout his tenure, which aligns with the standard duration of creative director contracts in the fashion industry, the luxury sector, with Louis Vuitton as a prominent name, has faced challenging times. Despite initial skepticism about his celebrity-oriented appointment, Williams has established himself as a formidable force in fashion. Under his leadership, the Louis Vuitton menswear studio has flourished and delivered some of the decade’s most impressive fashion shows, particularly the inaugural one.
For this collection, the studio explored a story where a weatherman, unexpectedly sent on assignment, arrives without luggage and urgently needs outerwear. Although Williams’s American roots are a significant aspect of his identity, the collection’s casual pieces reveal how his style has evolved to include French influences after three years of residing in Paris.
Leveraging his expertise as a music producer, Williams crafted a collection featuring thoughtfully reimagined elements from iconic French fashion of the ’80s and ’90s. The collection includes leather-shouldered gilets and jackets with cursive labels, reminiscent of renowned French brands Chipie and Chevignon. The boat shoes and boots, with their lug-commando soles, echo the style of Palladium, while the comic strip print narrating the weatherman’s story subtly references Moncler’s Monduck care labels from its French era. A highlight from earlier French fashion history is the striking yellow Breton fisherman’s coat in waterproofed leather, a design that has inspired designers like Saint Laurent, Cardin, and Gaultier.
Leather chinos with raised embroidery hint at a preppy style, while “leather denim” looks, featuring laser-drawn comic-like travel illustrations, demonstrate the studio’s innovative approach to material design. Additionally, a denim jacket and pants set in indigo is finished with a raised, 3D-printed mud texture. Following these, a monogram-stitched outfit in workwear duck canvas offers a straightforward yet stylish appearance.
Silhouettes in the collection vary from slightly oversized to more fitted designs. Acknowledging the brand’s reliance on its bag offerings, the collection introduces playful new and classic innovations, such as the Nils—a rectangular, shoulder-slung journalist/camera bag. This collection aims to reinterpret niche menswear trends through a lens of technology-driven expertise and forward-thinking creativity, offering a range of intriguing stylistic choices.
