Pharrell Williams (Photo credit: Bang Media)
Pharrell Williams revealed the inspiration and aims of his Louis Vuitton vision.
The 50-year-old musician became the new Men’s Creative Director for the designer company in February, and debuted his menswear collection in June at Paris Fashion Week.
When The Business of Fashion asked Williams what was the driving message for his collection, he explained that it was the aspiration of freedom.
“When we say the word hip-hop or rap and we say aspiration, the first thing most people are trained to think — and what’s been marketed to you — is that that means champagne bottles; that means like superfast foreign cars. And that’s not really what it is. For me, the aspirations of people who look like me is to be economically free, to be educated, to have equal access to health care, equal access to representation. And like I say, it’s also education first and foremost, so that you have the tools to go build out and live your dreams, whatever they may be. That’s luxury. Freedom is a luxury. Not everybody has freedom. And we want that. And so I try to tell these stories with our seasons and our campaigns and our shows. That word freedom is such a heavy word these days. When you look around in certain places on the planet, there’s not a lot of people who are free…from their environments to even their legal systems. So that’s my job with this platform. To tell these stories and to inspire young or old, you can do it. What can’t you do? You can do it, too,” he said.
As well as his vision for the company and its image, Williams also explained why he wanted to join the luxury brand.
“What it is that I was brought in here to do is to push expansion and growth not only in sales, but in perspective, culturally. My culture has been a very significant contributor to the bottom line every quarter. Like, that’s not lost on the house. That’s not lost on the [Arnault] family. That’s not lost on me. So that’s important to us,” he said.
