Now, there are egotistical designers, power-mad creators and megalomaniacs in fashion, and we got a little of all three while witnessing an excellent menswear collection from Louis Vuitton on Tuesday night in Paris.
It was as if one felt summoned to a G-7 summit, or at least a meeting of heads of state, so elaborate was the security to enter this spectacle, organized under a threatening sky in the garden of the headquarters of the UNESCO.
Road barriers were placed three blocks away; and emails warned guests to arrive 90 minutes before the 8:30 p.m. start time. Then another muscular ego, show producer Etienne Russo, repeatedly asked guests to take their seats via the public address. Security staff were quick to require people to sit on green benches, before a track made of one-metre squares of light and dark green crosses in an LV Damier pattern.
All this just to see some clothes. Which, fortunately, turned out to be an impressive collection of hits. A proud display from Men's creative director Pharrell Williams, who has clearly been working overtime in his studio and workshop.
Opening with a grand series of jet black tailoring: impeccable suits; black tuxedo with crystal lapel; and a wonderful black velvet undertaker's coat worn by a model with a jaunty Damier-trimmed beret. Think subtle versions of Huey P. Newton's elegance.
The American designer reviewed a whole series of materials (raw leather, cashmere, technical leather and monogram suede) in black, blackened steel and anthracite. A true tour de force of Stasi spy coats; fitted doublets embroidered with monogram motifs; elegant chauffeurs' tunics and killer Matrix suits. Practically all of them worn by black models in a multitude of shades. In a France teetering on the brink of electing a far-right party famous for blaming immigrants for the nation's problems, this was a powerful statement.
Pharrell even paid a curious homage to deep purple, a color deeply associated with Sabato Del Sarno at Gucci, creating see-through cases, see-through booths, and a giant trunk. One of several walked in wheelbarrows, as he did at his previous Louis Vuitton 'Wild West' show in January.
Climaxing with some great men's couture pieces: from a divine mink jacket inserted with vertical columns of pearls; minimalist foamy neoprene suits in dark putty; crocodile stand-collar bomber jackets and a beige shaved mink denim jacket. Ideal coup for his followers, whom Pharrell has labeled the LVERS. All adorned with cubic-hued bags and pearl-encrusted totes from Rubrik, in a show adorned with a bespoke orchestral combo soundtrack by Pharrell that was the best yet this menswear season.
It earned Pharrell Williams a prolonged ovation as he took a lengthy tour of the garden.
Williams titled this spring-summer 2025 collection Le Monde est à Vous, which means The World is Yours. Her show notes said it was meant to celebrate “the humans who cohabit the Earth. Walking away from this planet we call home.”
The program added that as “our international community gathers in Paris…Pharrell Williams…reflects on the unifying spirit of Louis Vuitton's global mindset.”
Except in the center of the garden, under Erik Reitzel's famous metallic balloon, there was an entire area closed to VIPs. Not exactly unity. Even taking into account the legitimate safety concerns of Vuitton owner and Europe's richest person, Bernard Arnault, and his family, the guest division. Dividing into two categories of guests seemed quite vulgar to me. All French media outlets were left out of the loop. The same thing happened at Vuitton's last women's show at the Louvre in March.
So, to paraphrase George Orwell, it turns out that when it comes to LVERS, some are more equal than others.
A shame, since it was a noble collection.
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