Pharrell Williams officially launched Paris Fashion Week on Tuesday night, showcasing a groundbreaking menswear collection for Louis Vuitton that solidified the brand’s dominance in the luxury streetwear market. The collection, developed in collaboration with Japanese designer and streetwear icon Nigo, marks another milestone in the duo’s long-standing partnership.
Since assuming the role of creative director of Louis Vuitton menswear in 2023, Williams has brought his visionary approach to the brand, drawing on his decades-long friendship with Nigo. Their collaboration is a continuation of a fruitful creative history, including co-founding the influential streetwear labels Billionaire Boys Club and Icecream in 2003. Williams has described Nigo as “one of the greatest curators of taste and purveyors of what’s next.” Together, they took a retrospective approach with this collection, aiming to “gaze into the future through the telescope of history.”
The collection seamlessly blended streetwear aesthetics with dandyism, featuring a striking mix of varsity jackets and sharp tailored suits. Set in a giant mirrored box outside the Louvre, the runway show presented models walking on a mauve-colored catwalk, flanked by 24 vitrines showcasing an eclectic array of items such as sneakers, T-shirts, a boombox, and a gold Blackberry phone. Many of these pieces came from the personal archives of Williams and Nigo, offering a visual history of the objects that inspired the collection, alongside items from previous Louis Vuitton shows.
Reflecting the early 2000s era, the collection featured wide-leg, low-rise silhouettes in both denim and tailoring. The classic streetwear camo print was reimagined in abstract and pixelated patterns. Monogramming was ubiquitous, a hallmark of Nigo’s influence, who first popularized the bold logo-heavy aesthetic with his brand A Bathing Ape (BAPE) in 1993. Three decades later, he revisited the concept, embellishing bags with cut-out facial silhouettes of himself and Williams and incorporating Parisian references such as “Pont Neuf” and “Since 1854.”
Nigo, who had previously collaborated with Louis Vuitton under the late Virgil Abloh in 2020, is currently the creative director of Kenzo, another brand within LVMH, the parent company of Louis Vuitton. His ongoing partnership with Williams underscores LVMH’s strategic push into the lucrative streetwear market, which is projected to reach a value of $637 billion (£516 billion) by 2032.
The show, which was delayed by more than 90 minutes, reportedly to accommodate the return of LVMH’s Arnault family from Washington, D.C., where they attended the inauguration of Donald Trump, saw key figures such as Bernard Arnault, LVMH CEO, and his children Delphine and Alexandre, taking front-row seats. Also in attendance were celebrities including actors Adrien Brody and Bradley Cooper, basketball star Victor Wembanyama, and K-pop band Got7, adding further star power to the event.
Through this collaboration, Pharrell Williams and Nigo have once again redefined the intersection of luxury fashion and streetwear, reinforcing Louis Vuitton’s position at the forefront of the evolving fashion landscape.
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