Pharrell Williams made his highly anticipated debut as the new men's creative director of Louis Vuitton on Thursday, June 20, at a star-studded show in Paris. "I'm so grateful to be here," Williams said. "This is a dream come true for me."
The Louis Vuitton Spring-Summer 2024 Men’s Collection orbits the sun as a focal point for opportunity, responsibility and enhancement. In his first proposal for the Maison, Men’s Creative Director Pharrell Williams looks to the sun as a universal source of life: a radiance that energises, heals and unifies humans across cultures and creeds. As our ultimate guiding light, the sun empowers its pupils to study, improve, and share in our appreciation. It teaches us to shine the light – the love – back on our fellow humans.
The impact of the sun is present throughout the collection, in the rays of graphics, the warmth of the palette, and the glistening surface decorations that gild garments and accessories.
The show is presented on Pont Neuf, the oldest bridge in the French capital, in ever-present view of the adjacent Louis Vuitton studios. It embodies a metaphorical connection between Paris and Virginia, the home state of Pharrell Williams. The evolution it represents inspires memories of Princess Anne High School in Virginia Beach, a seminal institution in the early education of the Men’s Creative Director, as well as recollections of the road that led him to today: the generosity of Marc Jacobs at Louis Vuitton, who ignited a foray into fashion that would only grow through Pharrell Williams’ relationship with Pietro Beccari. The formative premise is epitomised in styling elements and in American varsity jackets amplified through the Parisian confection of the Maison’s ateliers. The premise encourages
a study of the sporty wardrobe in tracksuits and knitwear re-contextualised with pearl embroideries or Monogram.
The Show opens with Pupil King, a filmic prelude directed by Todd Tourso. Shot on the bank of the Seine with a view of Pont Neuf, it captures a conversation between the American comedian Jerrod Carmichael and the American artist Henry Taylor. The film reflects the show’s themes of love, opportunity and empowerment in an exchange centred around topics of passion, pro-action, perseverance, and the human condition.
