One of the most highly anticipated runway events of the year, the Louis Vuitton men’s spring ’24 show during Paris Men’s Fashion Week marked the debut of music artist Pharrell Williams as the men’s creative director of the French luxury brand.
After the history making appointment of the late designer Virgil Abloh as men’s artistic director, Louis Vuitton continued to look outside the confines of traditional fashion design to explore how the role could reflect a more diverse and inclusive viewpoint that would also push the boundaries of creativity and art across different mediums. With the appointment of Williams, Louis Vuitton ventures further into the cross-pollination of fashion, art and music.
A closer look at the runway reveals plenty of cleverly applied details to the brand’s accessories. That includes pearl-encrusted embellishments on Louis Vuitton’s signature Damier checkerboard print, done not just on carryall bags but also on jackets, pants and beanies.
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There were plenty of footwear options, from new graphic sneakers to a series of fluffy slippers complete with novelty bear paw soles on the bottoms. But the strongest and most directional of the footwear offering was a series of men’s Mary Janes, done in black leather with lug soles and T-straps.
With the Mary Janes came a series of white frilly socks, which upon closer inspection were revealed to have pockets with pearl buttons, a clever trompe-l’œil take on a feminine accessory that actually had a more utilitarian design to it with the pocket detailing.
The Mary Janes are just the sort of shoe for the moment, when menswear designers are playing with what are traditionally feminine fashion objects (handbags, pearl necklaces, crop tops and more as of late). As a public figure who has long experimented with those traditionally feminine pieces (see all of this Chanel front row appearances plus a memorable Chanel runway appearance back in 2016), it made sense that Pharrell would put forth these ideas on the Louis Vuitton runway.
Bags and shoes weren’t the only categories where Pharrell experimented with gendered items. Across the collection, the artist showed plenty of jewelry ideas — reflecting his past work collaborating with Tiffany & Co. Not only did Pharrell walk the runway wearing a new pair of bespoke Tiffany & Co. sunglasses, outfitted in yellow gold with more than 20 carats of diamonds; he also showed models sporting lapel pins, pearl-and-costume-jewel-encrusted earrings and necklaces, waistcoat chains and even a pearl-encrusted headpiece that upon closer inspection were actually attached to a pair of sunglasses.
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