It is a particularly awaited fashion show which will launch Men’s Fashion Week in Paris this Tuesday, June 20. Pharrell Williams, musician, DJ, producer and singer opens the ball with his very first collection for Louis Vuitton, succeeding Virgil Abloh, who died suddenly in November 2021 and adored by younger generations for having combined luxury and streetwear. For his first collection, the brand’s new men’s creative director chose Rihanna as his muse, who posed pregnant with LV bags.
A creator seen as a visionary
“It’s unheard of for a brand of this level to come up with a first campaign for men’s collections with a woman. (…) He gives us a foretaste of his vision”, confides Pierre Alexandre M’Pelé, editorial director of GQ France, in an interview with AFP. The multifaceted artist, “is a star of popular culture” with a “cohort of admirers of all ages”, adds Alexandre Samson, head of the haute couture and contemporary creation departments at the Palais Galliera. “This is one of the most anticipated collections of Fashion Week and a very significant moment in the history of fashion,” he said. Pharrell Williams anticipates something “extremely attractive and joyful, very stylish and easily identifiable for everyone”.
LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault, who saw early drafts of the collection, said it “looks very, very interesting.” Pharrell Williams embodies “plurality, transversality. He is an extremely talented person. He is a kind of chameleon, a muse with other qualities that were required of the artistic director before,” emphasizes Pascaline Wilhelm, fashion and textile consultant.
His atypical profile, his visionary side and all the celebrities he will bring with him give even more scope to Men’s Fashion Week, which almost steals the show from Women’s Ready-to-Wear Week. “The evolution of men’s fashion, which has taken years to find expression, is more visible than that of women’s fashion. The questioning of gender, masculinity and femininity today allows her to have much more creative expressions without being caricatural,” notes Pascaline Wilhelm.
The idea of genderless fashion
Among the designers to follow this week, others embody the same values, such as the Frenchman of Turkish origin Burc Akyol, who joins the official calendar with his eponymous brand created in 2018. His show takes place on Tuesday, just before that of Pharrell Williams and is also to be watched closely. A graduate of the French Fashion Institute and trained under John Galliano at Dior and Nicolas Ghesquière at Balenciaga, he won over Cate Blanchett and Cardi B with his sultry elegance for men and women. “There are several talents in Paris who are part of this idea of genderless fashion,” says Pierre Alexandre M’Pelé. Anyway, clothes have no gender. A few centuries ago, men wore skirts and high heels. »