Time Will Tell

Pharrell Williams

This week I want to share my opinion on Pharrell taking over as Creative Director for Men's Fashion at Louis Vuitton. On the 20th of June Pharrell will debut with LV at Paris fashion week so I just want to talk about it before it happens. For that reason, I am starting this instillation of Dozer on the 15th of June. By the time this comes out everyone will have their opinions on the looks he came up with under the LV brand. That's exactly why there will be two parts to this post. The first section will briefly go over my feelings about Pharrell, while the second section will dissect the show and whether or not my judgments aged well. Let's get into it.

Part l

Let me start off by giving Pharrell props. I love his music and I absolutely respect him as a top three producer all-time in Hip-Hop, maybe even across all genres. I think he's a genius in many disciplines, but fashion isn't really one of them. This won't be a roast campaign on Pharrell. Though some of the photos I show might seem like I'm clowning him, it's simply evidence. Taking over for Virgil Abloh was going to be a tough task for anyone. A few of the names thrown around initially were Wales Bonner, Jerry Lorenzo, and Kanye West, to name a few. I was personally pulling for Wales Bonner, but after just over a year they named Pharrell as the successor. Pharrell has had plenty of experience in design over the past two decades. He has his clothing brand Billionaire Boys Club, partnered with NIGO with BAPE, and he's had multiple collaborations with Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Moncler, and Adidas. Not to mention his other brand HumanRace that produces skin care products and clothing manufactured through Adidas. Safe to say Pharrell has his foot in the door. The issue for me derives from the effort and the quality of the work he's made. We're going to briefly review some of the pieces he's released in the last few years. I've never been a fan of BAPE's designs in general so I'm going to swiftly leave them out of it.

This is a design he made in collaboration with Chanel. As you can see these are loafers... I can't stress enough how I'm not trying to hate (overtly). However, these remind me of the time I went on the Nike website when I was 14 and customized a shoe so I could call it "Candy Store", and I SWORE I did something cold with those designs. Anyway, in other words, this is not good (to me). There are too many whimsical colors, and almost none of them complement each other. It looks like he was going for a fun unserious design, but he ended up putting 6 colors with varying tones on a loafer. Fun designs are great, but this is one of the most uncalculated efforts I've seen from a musician/designer.

This is a puffer bullet proof vest that Pharrell designed in collaboration with Moncler. I am not a fan of this. I don't care that it has no utility. There are so many pieces without utility. This just looks kinda greasy? Whisper voice It looks poorly constructed and sloppily designed. It looks like he was going for a luxurious military look, which in itself isn't the worst idea. However, execution is everything and I think he fell short of that goal by a mile.

Sorry, I had to show variety and intentionality to strengthen my argument. These are shirts from Pharrell's brand Billionaire Boys Club. It goes without saying that these are lazy designs. They rely heavily on the logo and lack character. All they do is change the shirt color and modify the logo to fit a different theme. I personally think the execution comes off as lazy and uninspired. I'm sorry but if you're going to pump this out with your brand, how're you going to produce quality designs for Louis Vuitton? I could give Pharrell the benefit of the doubt and compare him to people like Matthew Williams and Virgil who got their start with streetwear and have since become notable figures in modern day high fashion. Matthew and Virgil worked on Been Trill along with Heron Preston and Justin Saunders. Matthew is currently the creative director of Givenchy, VIrgil (RIP) the same but for Louis Vuitton (and Off-White), Heron started his own brand named after himself, and Justin made his own brand named Jjjjound. I'm prepared to let Pharrell prove me wrong because these guys came up from streetwear. The reason I'm not sold is based on the sample size Pharrell has already produced. He's had over 20 collaborations with brands over the past 20 years, and I'm not a fan of any of them. Louis Vuitton obviously made the best decision considering celebrity but I'm firm in my skepticism about the quality of designs coming out of this upcoming show.

Part ll: Return to Form

After watching the show a few times, I have some thoughts I want to share. The show was set to start at 8:30 CEST in Paris and ended up starting almost an hour late but it was worth the wait. I first want to talk about the clothing that was featured in the show. Let's start by talking about the pixeled camo that was featured in the beginning of the show. If you know me you know I hate camo, I see it as a creative cop out in design. So, when I saw those camo designs as the first few fits on the runway, I was disappointed. The pixel camo bags and garments looked like Minecraft inspired attire and I was not feeling it at all. As the show went on, and I started to see the tiers of design, I was excited to see how the looks would develop.

The photo above is genuine eye soar to me, but it got much better after the pixel camo. If I had to define the crux of the designs, I would say that it's a soft return to Louis Vuitton basics. That in itself is not a bad thing, for his first show I think it makes sense to return to a somewhat familiar look. Let's look at a few.

Following the camo was the classic LV look. Neither of these outfits are boring or bad in my opinion. They both have the classic LV print on them, and they have character. This feels familiar, this feels like a return to what we've seen Louis Vuitton be in the past. Who can be mad at Pharrell borrowing from the past for a few outfits? At this point there wasn't anything to be impressed about but as the show went on, I started to see looks that stood out more.

Above are a few looks that I loved. Everything from textures to flirting with feminine expression is part of why I love these looks. After the weird start in the beginning with the camo, I started to see the core of the collection the further we got into the show. These pieces look more like a vision that's unique to Pharrell than Louis Vuitton. I don't think the designs are out of this world, but they definitely grabbed my attention. With every look I got more comfortable with Pharrell taking over. Nothing I saw felt like a flop after the camo. I kept expecting to see similar outfits to Virgil's designs but there was only one design I saw that I could directly compare to Virgil

The leather rugby. This feels like a design that is right out of Virgil's book. It was easily the most colorful and oddly textured look. Ironically, it feels like the black sheep of the collection because it doesn't fit into any corner of what is seen before or after it. Other than this outfit I don't have a reason to think Pharrell didn't design most of these outfits. I understand people's skepticism about whether he's just a face, but that isn't a narrative I'm interested in entertaining at the moment. Overall, in terms of design Pharrell did his thing. Outside of the pixel camo I'm not mad at this collection. He made Louis Vuitton his own and came out swinging. I think as far as design goes; it's safe to say that I was wrong in my skepticism of Pharrell. I still think it was warranted but ultimately, he put my doubts to rest. He had creative control of one of the most storied fashion houses and held his own. He blew me out of the water with the designs he produced, and I can't wait for the next collection.

The performance part of the show was the star of the show for me. The show was on the Pont Neuf, the oldest bridge in Paris. The classical music at the front end of the show set the tone for the collection in the best way. We see a camera pan from the sky of Paris and zoom into the Pont Neuf with vicious drums and scurrying strings. It set a tone of urgency that was almost beyond words. It kept me on my feet, already not knowing what to expect from Pharrell in this show. The music eventually shifts to a Pharrell produced beat that features Pusha T. This is when I had the realization that Pharrell and every one of his collaborators had arrived at this stage together. Pharrell was bringing more than just his designs to the table. His was bringing his musical talent and his friends with him. He is making the decision to pour who he's been and who he is into Louis Vuitton. We are seeing Hip-Hop truly arrive in the center stage of fashion now more than ever (sorry Kanye). The back end of the music had a choir sing the word "joy" until it gets looped into another song produced by Pharrell. The song and the moment are nothing short of phenomenal. All the models came out to re walk the bridge as a unit and are then followed by Pharrell as he gives his thanks to the audience. This show was amazing at every turn. Hip-Hop has officially made its way to high fashion. Even when Virgil took over it didn't summon this level of Hip-Hop and black energy that Pharrell has had around him for almost 30 years. You got Jay and Beyonce in attendance, The Clipse in your runway and music produced by the designer who just so happens to be one of the best producers ever? This show is bigger than anything Kanye has done since he entered the fashion world. Even with Kanye starting Yeezy, partnering with Adidas, and having people go crazy for his shoes for nearly a decade. He still doesn't have the notoriety of being in charge of a storied brand. Pharrell killed this show, and I am looking forward to what he does next. If there's a proverbial crown to be had in the culture, Pharrell Williams has that shit. He is well on his way to being the most notable figure in Hip-Hop history bar none. This is the end of this week's blog. I'll post some more of my favs below.

Other fits I adored: