“It Changed My Life”: Pharrell Williams on His New Role and First Collection for Louis Vuitton

“I came into this knowing that I wanted to make some serious indelible marks,” Pharrell Williams tells Vanity Fair of his role as men’s creative director for Louis Vuitton. On Tuesday, the Grammy Award–winner debuted his highly anticipated first collection in his newly appointed position. The decision, announced earlier this year on Valentine’s Day, sent the fashion industry into a spiral with a plethora of questions: Why Williams—best known for his music career—and not an established designer? Would he have what it takes? Does celebrity mean more than talent? 

With Paris as the backdrop, a carefully selected cast of models, orchestra, and the Voices of Fire choir took the main stage across the Pont Neuf (the oldest standing bridge across the Seine River), with a runway covered in the iconic Damier pattern that Williams chose to highlight as the key component in his new collection. “I know the monogram is historically a very dominant force within the house. I had the Bastille bag in Damier, I had shoes and boots in Damier. I saw it as an opportunity. The fact that it has the chessboard setup, we could use the grid as a platform to play with different artistic techniques,” shares Williams. 

Choosing to pixelate the Damier, Williams collaborated with ET Artist, who treated the blocks like eight-bit Atari graphics, including pixelated images of Pont Neuf. From there, the Damoflage was born, seen in three hues across accessories, workwear, indigo denim, pajama silhouettes, and in the intarsia of knitwear and furs. Williams also enlisted artist Henry Taylor to create artwork of figures embroidered on Alma bags. 

For his debut, Williams focused on stylish details that trumpeted the return of cool, with pearl-adorned sunglasses, band-collared tunics, workwear remixes on jackets reminiscent of the traditional Parisian women’s wardrobe, box-pleat shorts juxtaposed with suits, glazed penny loafers, flower pendants, nubuck bowling shoes, and magnified shearling slippers in monogram intarsia with a bear’s footprint on the bottom. All part of the signature touches that set his collection apart.