Louis Vuitton: Designing friendship

If in doubt, collaborate, which Pharrell Williams decidedly did in his latest show on Tuesday in Paris for Louis Vuitton, where he teamed up with old buddy, Nigo.
 
They are such old friends, the American musician had already worked with the Japanese brand builder 20 years ago, collaborating on LV Millionaires 1.0 sunglasses.

The pair were so mutually enamored of its other’s creativity that they attached their dual silhouettes all over the collection. Pharrell in his adjusted Mountie’s hat and Nigo under baseball cap seen on skinny ties, Damier print bags or baseball jackets.  
 
Williams presented the collection in a huge circular set, based on the petal flower shape of the Vuitton monogram. The arrival of the 30-piece Pont Neuf orchestra of brass and strings heralded the start of the action, beginning with a beautiful composition – Nobuo Uematsu’s “One Winged Angel.” And climaxing with another collaboration named LV Bag with Don Toliver and j-hope.

“It is an artistic manifestation of a friendship for life,” said Pharrell in his show notes, adding that a key influence was Nigo’s “vast archive of twentieth century workwear.” 
 
Though this was the most luxurious of workwear, where donkey jackets wer embroidered with pearls; truck drivers jerkins were made in calf skin; or bike messenger hoodies were in patchwork monogram intarsia. In case you didn’t get the message, a half-dozen delivery men dragged huge trunks around the circle. 
 
Designed by Masamichi Katayama’s Wonderwall design firm, the set had vitrines, built like huge second hands on a clockface, and displaying actual artifacts from the Vuitton archives.
 
That obsession was also evident on the runway, with several revivals of Stephen Sprouse’s famed 2001 LV graffiti take on the monogram seen on new totes or biker jackets.

See catwalk

There was certainly plenty of fine merchandise on this runway, but maybe not so much fashion mojo. One had to admire Pharrell’s energy and eye, even if one thought that his design skills have never quite latched his musical brilliance.
 
The duo took a languid bow before a typically high-profile Vuitton front row, led by the brand’s patron – LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault. Who, even though he attended Trump’s inauguration with fellow billionaire’s on Monday, flew back for this show by a fellow American. 
 
Joining the luxury boss in the front-row were Adrien Brody with his girlfriend Georgina Chapman, and Idris Elba, and wife Sabrina. Brody has been all over the European menswear season, gliding on the wings of his new hit movie “:The Brutalist,” one of whose producers is Andrew, son of Ralph Lauren. Brody showed up at Prada in Milan this past weekend, and sat beside Matt Smith, now sporting a mohawk cornrow hairstyle, at Armani.
 
Further along at LV were Bradley Cooper and San Antonio Spurs basketball star Victor Wembanyama, surely the tallest man ever seen in a French catwalk show. Wisely picking luxury’s largest label for his latest taste of Paris fashion.