On February 14, what had been rumored the day before became official: Pharrell Williams will be creative director for men’s fashion at Louis Vuitton. The 49-year-old fills the void left by Virgil Abloh’s early death in September 2021. In 2018, he was the first black man to occupy one of the most influential positions in the fashion world.
Pharrell Williams is one of the most successful and well-known hip-hop producers in the world. With the producer collective The Neptunes, his band NERD and as a co-creator and featured guest on countless successful singles and albums, he has collected a total of 13 Grammy and one Oscar nominations over the years.
His explicitly fashionable CV is also impressive. He and the current chief designer at “Kenzo”, Nigo, who was also a music producer, own the streetwear brand “Human Made”. He founded the brands “Billionaire Boys Club”, “Ice Cream” and the gender-neutral skincare line “Humanrace”, holds shares in “G-Star Raw Denim” and supported “Tiffany and Co.” in 2018 with the design of sunglasses. The same happened in 2004 and 2008 with “Louis Vuitton” under Marc Jacobs. He should therefore be familiar with the processes in the industry. That being said, he’s one of the few undeniable style icons hip-hop has produced.
hip hop and high fashion
In the past few years, influenced significantly by A$AP Rocky, Kanye West, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Tyler, The Creators and Williams himself, hip-hop has become a scene that can be relied upon to spawn successful fashion (and other) trends.
The charisma of those named and the aggregate purchasing power of their fans have helped creators of high-priced fashion borrow the codes of this more accessible culture. The boundaries between the exclusive world of confusingly organized fashion weeks, exorbitant price tags, French, Italian and Japanese names and the masses are blurred. Instagram certainly played its part in this. But the influencer with the most Instagram followers — Kylie Jenner — isn’t an off-spring of the Kardashians by accident, and it’s no coincidence that her popularity exploded during Kim Kardashian and Kanye West’s marriage.
From designer Abloh to icon Williams
Trends are not made at Louis Vuitton, they are commercialized there at high prices. Pharrell Williams (like Virgil Abloh) is an interesting personality because he personifies the promise of being able to quickly understand these trends and ideally act on them. Abloh was a trained designer. His labels “Pyrex Athletic” and “Off-White”, his work with Kanye West, he did all that as a man in the background. People knew who he was because they knew who wore his clothes and who he worked with.
Williams is a well-established celebrity – you don’t just know his name, but his insignia. Drake wears a statement necklace (and other jewelry) from the producer in his latest music video for “Jumbotron Shit Poppin.” The most successful musician in the world presented himself with Pharrell Williams’ most famous chain and then said how much the equipment was worth in total – two and a half million dollars. “Louis Vuitton by Pharrell Williams” promise to be magic words.
Louis Vuitton
In addition to Williams’ obvious qualifications and the cultural movements in the background, the French fashion house is also repositioning itself overall. On February 1st, Italian Pietro Beccari, formerly a Dior board member, became the company’s new CEO. 2018 was the year that Louis Vuitton became the first luxury fashion brand to surpass $10 billion. In 2022 it was over 20 billion. The course taken with Virgil Abloh has clearly paid off. And the most important company of one of the world’s most valuable corporations (LVHM), whose owner Bernard Arnault is currently the richest man in the world, has decided that Pharrell Williams is the right person to continue it.
Between February 27th and March 7th, the “Paris Fashion Week” for women’s fashion takes place. The “Moncler” brand will also present designs by Williams in the pre-program as part of its “Moncler Genius” campaign. His first collection for Louis Vuitton will be on display at next June’s menswear Paris Fashion Week.
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