After 15 months, the long wait is over for the new creative director of Louis Vuitton Menswear.
Pharrell Williams, the singer known for his huge hit Happy, is the chosen one after over a year of speculation. Winner of 13 Grammy Awards and regarded as one of the most influential music producers of the 21st century, he succeeds Virgil Abloh, who passed away in November 2021, marking only the second time an African-American designer has held a head position at the French luxury house. Abloh made history as the first when he was appointed in 2018.
Although the worlds of fashion and entertainment have long been interconnected, many found the choice unexpected, since the names being considered were British designers like Grace Wales Bonner and Martine Rose, or American designers Telfar Clemens and Colm Dillane, better known as Kid Super, who was announced last month as Louis Vuitton’s first ever menswear guest designer. Pharrell’s appointment was the first major decision by Louis Vuitton’s new chief executive, Pietro Beccari, who just came in from Dior last month.
A friend of Abloh, Pharrell has actually worked with LV before. “I am glad to welcome Pharrell back home,” said Beccari, “after our collaborations in 2004 and 2008.” The record producer, rapper, singer, songwriter and entrepreneur was described in the house’s statement as “a visionary whose creative universes expand from music to art, and to fashion — establishing himself as a cultural global icon for the past 20 years. 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. His creative vision will lead us towards a new and very exciting chapter.”
The new creative director first made waves in the 1990s as the other half of the Neptunes, the hip-hop and R&B production duo that he formed with Chad Hugo, producing songs for the likes of Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake. Their impact on popular music was quite significant, producing half of the songs on American radio based on surveys in 2003. Pharrell’s first solo album in 2006 debuted at no. 3 on the charts. He composed original songs for the film Despicable Me in 2010 and its sequel in 2013, where Happy hit number one worldwide and was nominated for an Oscar.
His popularity had reached the point that Comme des Garçons saw it fit to work with him on a unisex fragrance named after his album “Girl” in 2014. The same title would be used for an art exhibit that he curated at the Galerie Perrotin in Paris, featuring artists that included Takashi Murakami.
In 2015 he did a cameo in an episode of The Simpsons and lent his name to causes like climate change in the Live Earth concert and a Grammy performance for Black Lives Matter.
He also utilized his fame for business ventures like the streetwear brand Billionaire Boys Club and skateboarding-inspired footwear, Ice Cream, partnered with the Japanese fashion icon Nigo in 2005.
With Louis Vuitton, he started a series of eyewear called Millionaire with Marc Jacobs in 2004 and the Blason jewelry collection in 2008.
For Art Basel in 2009, he and Murakami created a sculpture.
In 2014, a long-term partnership commenced with Adidas, and his textile company Bionic Yarn did a collab with G-Star Raw for a line using denim made from recycled plastic bottles.
In 2015, he went into film production with Dope.
His friendship with the late Karl Lagerfeld made him the first male brand ambassador for Chanel where he starred in a film, had a sneaker collab in 2017 and a capsule collection in 2019.
Many consider him a pioneer in gender-neutral clothing, wearing ladies’ pieces from Chanel, as well as Celine by Phoebe Philo and coming out on the cover of GQ’s November 2019 issue wearing a ball-gown puffer. At the same time, Williams would get into education through a tech-fused music curriculum with Verizon Foundation Learning Schools.
A skincare brand, Human Race, with a mission to empower individuals in their pursuit of wellbeing, followed next in 2020. He teamed up with David Grutman to open Swan and Bar Bevy at Miami’s Design District, and the Goodtime Hotel in 2021. He would later be tapped for the rebranding of Tiffany & Co., starring in campaigns and launching diamond sunglasses, which he wore at the Kenzo fashion show in 2022.
Williams’ celebrity status no doubt convinced Louis Vuitton that he would be perfect to widen the appeal of the brand, a strategy that already had its beginnings with Abloh, who was widely praised for reinventing the idea of luxury by marrying it with streetwear and the worlds of hip-hop and hype culture, and in doing so attracted a more diverse and younger consumer base.
His appointment to the high-profile position seems to reflect a growing trend among luxury houses to entrust their fortunes to multi-hyphenate celebrities instead of those who are designers by training and profession, as was de rigueur in the past. Williams, for example, has wide-ranging interests that allow him to straddle a multitude of worlds and read the zeitgeist. Collaborations come naturally, as he is a savvy curator of talent and can sense the kind of flashy fashion that will go viral on social media. With his youthful looks at 49 years old, enhanced further with his predilection for short pants worn even with tuxedos, he looks every inch the part of a man in touch with the rising Gen-Z consumers.
But will this be enough to drive the brand forward to a promising future? We just have to wait and see when Williams presents his first collection in June at Men’s Fashion Week in Paris and when the merchandise hits the shelves after that.
* * *
Follow the authors on Instagram @rickytchitov; Twitter @RickyToledo23; Facebook - Ricky Toledo Chito Vijandre.