Pharrell Williams Makes Waves at Louis Vuitton—Literally
Surfboards, seashells, and a giant swell in Paris.
A record-breaking heatwave hit Paris last week, but despite delays at some shows, Paris Fashion Week continues. The city may be too far from the coast to allow an emergency escape to the seaside, but creative director Pharrell Williams offered a happy medium for Louis Vuitton’s attendees.
A ginormous, barrel-wave structure, roaring with a continuous flow of water, made a faux shoreline for the city’s fashion crowd. As models appeared through the wave’s pocket, they stepped onto the sand-covered runway, presenting the spring/summer 2027 menswear collection on an artificial beach.
The collection itself goes beyond classic menswear suiting and fine tailoring to carve out the unique language of Williams’s Louis Vuitton reign. While upholding the house’s dandy characteristics, the dapper persona takes a coastal turn, not unlike Williams himself, who grew up on the seaside in Virginia Beach.
The collection appears with spring-appropriate layers and no shortage of jackets in all fabrics—scaly electric-blue python, collage patchwork, and glossy teal croc. Overt seaside references leave no question about the season’s theme: surfboards, palm tree prints, and seashell-shaped handbags. One model donned a Monogram-patterned wetsuit while carrying a leather-detailed bike, made in collaboration between the house and Pinarello.
Though embellished with textured beading, decorative aquatic creatures, and thematic props, the collection finds its crescendo in its referential details: new vacation-ready over-the-shoulder Le Keepall bags and trunks wheeled out on trolleys, coastal slip-on skate sneakers, and sea-centric beading, which mimics marine life you may find in vibrant coral reefs. Even the denim is washed-out and faded, as if it had been exposed to the beach’s salt water and sand.
While Williams has always been undoubtably talented, the new collection felt like a peak in his time at Louis Vuitton, instantly generating buzz and marking a significant win for the musician turned designer, who was appointed creative director in 2023 following Virgil Abloh’s historic tenure.
In Paris, the intolerable French heat suddenly became bearable, only through the mist of the Louis Vuitton ocean spray and the sight of an instant-classic collection.
