Louis Vuitton AW25 men’s50 Images
After a pretty lacklustre start to the AW25 menswear season in Milan – bar a very fab, kind of bonkers, uber-eclectic Prada show – tonight (January 21), the Paris edition kicked off with its usual Louis Vuitton blockbuster. With the fashion gossip mill working overdrive right now (who’s going where?), LV wasn’t exempt from whispers this time around, as a collab between creative director Pharrell Williams and his friend Nigo was teased across social media in the days leading up to the big moment. As you can probably tell from the headline, that particular whisper was rooted in truth, as the two dropped a series of dual-branded pieces, and took a look back at their archives as part of a very special presentation post-show. Ticket lost in the post? Here’s everything you need to know.
It’s pretty well known within fashion circles and beyond that Nicolas Ghesquière closes out every womenswear season with a Vuitton show staged at the Louvre, but unlike his colleague in the women’s department, Pharrell has chosen various venues across Paris to present his collections – from the international flag-lined United Nations building for SS25, to the iconic Pont Neuf Bridge in the 1st Arrondissement where he debuted his first-ever offering in front of Rihanna, A$AP Rocky, Beyoncé, Busta Rhymes and so, so many more. That changed tonight when Pharrell took over the legendary Parisian landmark for his latest outing. Filing in past that museum’s iconic pyramids came Callum Turner, Travis Scott, BTS’s J Hope, Kai-Isaiah Jamal, and Bradley Cooper, because sure, why not?
As ever during his almost-three year reign at Vuitton, Pharrell spread the net wide with his AW25 offering, kitting out a series of different LV tribes across the board. Kicking things off came a series of tailored ensembles that wouldn’t have looked out of place in the boardroom, before he dipped into the kind of preppy-tinged sportswear he made his name with when he launched Billionaire Boys Club back in the very early 00s. Soon after came a bunch of leather biker jackets plastered with the LV monogram and loose basketball shorts that paid homage to the street style of Japan’s Harajuku district, and a series of cute sugary pink knitted cardigans studded with glittering crystals that looked like they could have been nicked from your nan’s wardrobe. Like Mrs Prada and Raf Simons before him, it seemed like Pharrell was also making a case for personal style and an end to the relentless churn of the trend cycle. Core-who?
Much was made of Pharrell’s appointment at Louis Vuitton, with naysayers bemoaning the fact the house had gone for a big name over an actual designer. What people without an in-depth knowledge of fashion across the last quarter-century probably don’t realise, however, is that Pharrell was kind of the blueprint for the streetwear movement that seismically shifted the industry in the late 20-teens, after he founded OG label Billionaire Boys Club with Nigo – now at Kenzo – back in 2003. As if to remind everyone of this, and probably also just because it’s fun to hang out and create with your mates, this season the two designers decided to join forces on a much-rumoured capsule collection. Plastered across camouflage canvas-coated LV monogram Speedys, Neverfulls, and a bunch of other bags, denim co-ord sets, and loads more looks were cartoon-y portraits of the two creatives, with the pair also dropping a new iteration of the Millionaire shades – a distinctive pair of sunglasses they first designed for Marc Jacobs in 2004 during his reign at the French house. Real heads know.
Between those big monogrammed trunks that have become a mainstay of Pharrell’s collections, and a gold cage bag that will set you back a casual $18K, came a bunch of cute lobster charms strung from totes and belt loops alike. While lobsters are said to symbolise obscene wealth and gluttony, on the spiritual side of things they represent transformation and regeneration – with Pharrell revealing he was “looking back to look forward” this season, the inclusion of the little creatures made sense. He might have been feeling a little nostalgic, but that doesn’t mean he’s not going to keep pushing things forward.
Some real nerd energy took over the space as the show came to a close and Pharrell and Nigo appeared to take their bow. As the lights went down, a bunch of illuminated blocks at the centre of the runway were revealed to be display cases filled with paraphernalia from the two designers’ archives, as well as standouts from the Vuitton back-catalogue. Stacked side-by-side were bits of early N.E.R.D. merch – from mixtapes, to tour tees, to AAA passes – as well as Pharrell’s Neptunes work. His early forays into sneakers were placed under collegiate jackets bearing the Billionaire Boys Club logo, and pieces from his Ice Cream label were displayed next to actual ice creams and gold grills. Beyond Pharrell and Nigo, there was also an opportunity to get up-close to iconic pieces from Kim Jones, Marc Jacobs, and Virgil Abloh, with the whole thing a reminder as to how Louis Vuitton spills out from just-your-average fashion brand and into popular culture.
Check out the gallery above and head to Dazed Fashion for more from the AW25 menswear shows
