A look back at the newly appointed Louis Vuitton designer’s long history with luxury brands like Chanel, Moncler and more
Pharrell Williams, or simply Pharrell, wears many hats: he is a Grammy Award-winning musician, Takashi Murakami collaborator, beauty entrepreneur, sneaker designer, and now, the men’s creative director of Louis Vuitton.
Pharrell’s appointment at the helm of LVMH’s multi-billion-dollar fashion house may come as a surprise to anyone who hasn’t paid attention to the Happy singer’s massive influence on fashion over the past two decades. Pharrell is already a big deal in the streetwear world, thanks to his multi-year partnership with Adidas, not to mention his streetwear label Billionaire Boys Club, which he co-founded with Bape designer Nigo.
Now, however, Pharrell’s past collaborations and projects with luxury brands like Chanel and Moncler are back in the spotlight, serving as a timely reminder of how he was one of the first to bridge the worlds of high fashion and streetwear. He has also inspired other creative polymaths, with the most notable example being Louis Vuitton’s late menswear designer, Virgil Abloh.
Ahead of his Louis Vuitton debut in June, as well his Tiffany and Co collaboration launch, we spotlight Pharrell’s most coveted luxury collaborations that you’ll want to get your hands on now.
Read more: Pharrell Williams is Louis Vuitton’s new menswear designer
1. Pharrell x Chanel sneakers
He may be the face of Louis Vuitton now, but Pharrell’s relationship with Chanel is just as significant. As one of the muses of the late designer, Karl Lagerfeld, the rapper became the first man to appear in a Chanel handbag campaign and even walked the runway for the brand’s revered Metiers d’Art fashion show—twice. (He was even instrumental in Chanel’s recent fashion show in Dakar, its first-ever in Africa.) In 2017, Pharrell scored a rare sneaker collaboration with Chanel, resulting in the Chanel x Adidas Originals Hu NMD sneakers. The shoes came in black and white, with one shoe branded with the Chanel logo, and the other in similar block letters that read “Pharrell”. Limited to just 500 pairs, the shoes were launched exclusively through a raffle at the Parisian multi-label concept store Colette.