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.
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. 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.
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. 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.