Call him Mr. Zeitgeist.
Since taking the reins as Louis Vuitton’s creative director of menswear last year, Pharrell Williams has proved his skill at creating bridges between fashion and pop culture.
The soundtrack of his debut Vuitton show, “Joy (Unspeakable),” is now the music of an Evian commercial, and his Western-themed fall collection cannily dovetailed with the release of Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter” album, on which he had a co-writing credit (she even wore a custom Vuitton outfit to the Grammys, cementing the cowboy core trend.)
So it should come as no surprise that as the entertainer kicked off Paris Men’s Fashion Week on Tuesday, his focus was on the upcoming Olympic Games.
Parent company LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton is a premium partner of the sporting event, and LVMH is sponsoring a number of French athletes that have also been signed as Vuitton brand ambassadors, including swimmer Léon Marchand and fencer Enzo Lefort.
Guests including Colman Domingo, Jackson Wang and Sabrina Carpenter gathered at the UNESCO headquarters for the show, titled “Le monde est à vous” (which loosely translates as “The World Is Your Oyster” in English.) Amid a sea of country flags, models paraded around an orb on a lawn sprayed with the brand’s signature checkerboard pattern.
Rather than a literal paean to sporting performance, the lineup was a celebration of humanity, with a palette rooted in flesh tones to symbolize the diversity of the participating athletes and fans.
“This is the eve of the Olympics and so we wanted to tell a story about beautiful people and untapped potential, and that’s pretty much what you see with the line,” Williams told WWD in a preview at Vuitton headquarters. “This is just our homage to mankind, and how we can be kind when we come together.”
The Humanrace founder has made universalism a core value of his personal brand and reinforced that message in this collection with a collaboration with Air Afrique, a Paris-based cultural collective inspired by the Pan-African airline that operated between 1961 and 2002.
In addition to designing a capsule collection of clothing and luggage for spring, featuring Air Afrique’s signature blue-and-green tartan, it produced the prelude film to the collection, showing kids in the roles of United Nations delegates.
Invites came in the shape of Apple AirTags, underscoring Vuitton’s travel heritage. As usual, the core storyline branched off into a variety of subplots.
Williams toyed with archetypes like the Diplomat, with a wealth of ’70s-inflected tailoring in inky tones; the Explorer, more likely to be found in sturdy but chic outerwear like utility jackets and vests; or the Dandy, strutting in jackets and coats dripping with rhinestone and pearl embroidery.
Indeed, despite the message of unity, much of the lineup was unapologetically luxurious, with fur jackets, crystal-embroidered coats, a pajama suit trimmed with pearls and a fully bedazzled Carryall just some of the dozens of looks he sent down the runway to a live orchestra accompaniment.
He delved into themes such as aviation, with pilot overalls and variations on the MA-1 flight jacket; exotic skins, with a new pixelated python pattern wittily dubbed Snake-o-Flage; as well as a variety of soccer-inspired merch.
This ranged from leather or sequin-embroidered jerseys to a bag shaped like a soccer ball, and a soccer shoe with his signature footprint sole — all making their debut as the Continent tunes into the UEFA European Championship, which is set to wrap up on July 14, less than two weeks before Paris 2024 kicks off on July 26.
The “Happy” singer’s glossy tonal silhouettes — including a selection of flocked, monogrammed and sparkling track suits — are bound to go down well with French footballers, who have started emulating the NBA’s tunnel walks by showing up for training and matches in increasingly stylish outfits.
Jules Koundé, who plays for the French national team and Spanish club Barcelona, recently drew attention by wearing a black leather aviator jacket with a shirt and tie, flared jeans and high-heeled boots, while carrying a vintage carryall from Vuitton’s early 2000s collaboration with Stephen Sprouse.
Williams would have you believe that all these serendipitous moments, which reflect Vuitton’s self-declared positioning as a “cultural” brand, are pure coincidence. Asked how he maintains the momentum between the presentation of the clothes, and the moment they hit stores six months later, he demurred.
“What you’re talking about is instincts and being able to read the ether,” he said. “I’m grateful that the universe sends out inspo like that and I happen to be the receiver. Because there’s academic calculation of where things are and where things are going to be, projections, and then there’s hunches, and I think I fit somewhere in between.”
Expect Williams to continue his streak as Paris’ front-row ubiquitor this season. He’s also hosting one of the week’s hottest parties, a dinner with Wang celebrating the Hong Kong rapper’s sale on Joopiter, the auction platform that Williams launched in 2022.
Given his knack for having a finger in every pie, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Williams play a role during the Olympics as well. “I’m excited that so many people are going to be paying attention to the Olympics and we just want to take advantage of the platform to just show gratitude,” he said after the show.
His soundtrack included an original composition, “Triumphus Cosmos,” that had all the makings of an anthem. If that turns out to be the case, then headlining for Vuitton is just his opening act.