It was off to the rooftop of Paris’ UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) headquarters for Pharrell’s latest Louis Vuitton collection. A giant globe backdropped by flags from nations dotted across the world was an apt setting for a collection threaded with the hope of global unity and human togetherness. This season, Pharrell’s design handwriting was guided by the “similarities that bind us together across the globe”, peppered with influences that nodded to the maison’s travel origins.
In his most sartorial outing yet, Pharrell played with the idea of worldwide dandies, colliding “archetypal codes” of travelling gents with nods to aviation uniforms. The latter was born of a collaboration with Air Afrique – a creative collective and magazine which borrows its name from the now closed Pan-African airline – that uplifts Afro-diasporic arts. Here, prints that decorated original Pan-African luggage inspire new Louis Vuitton motifs, seen alongside the designer’s Damoflage print in a python-like finish and the original Damoflage check frosted in sequins.
Slender tailoring and overcoats with sloped, sharp shoulders walked alongside school boy shorts and safari jackets transformed into elegant suiting. The palette was informed by “the nuances of skin tones of all the humans of the planet”, where upon closer inspection, the intricate construction of each piece was accentuated. Like buttons adorned with miniature world maps, or piping made up of tiny pearls. A similar attention to detail was applied to this season’s bags which ranged from supersized – models wheeled ruby red monogrammed trunks through the showspace – to miniature, pastel-hued Speedy holdalls and supple leather variations of the Christopher and Alma bags. They’ll make fitting accomplices for the Louis Vuitton gent, whoever and wherever he is, as he heads on his next globe-trotting excursion.
Photography courtesy of Louis Vuitton.
