PARIS, Feb 14 (Reuters) – LVMH’s (LVMH.PA) prime label Louis Vuitton mentioned on Tuesday it has employed Pharrell Williams to go inventive course of its menswear designs, tapping a preferred determine from the music trade to fill the high-profile place left vacant for the reason that dying of star designer Virgil Abloh over a yr in the past.
“Louis Vuitton is delighted to welcome @Pharrell as its new Males’s Artistic Director”, Louis Vuitton mentioned in a tweet, confirming earlier experiences from the Wall Road Journal and the French every day Le Figaro.
Williams’ first assortment for the label will probably be proven in June throughout Males’s Style Week in Paris, the model added.
Williams rose to fame within the music enterprise as a producer and singer with hits together with “Joyful” and “Blurred Strains.” He has received 13 Grammy awards and was a decide on the favored singing competitors present “The Voice.”
“Joyful,” written for the animated film “Despicable Me 2,” earned Williams certainly one of his two Oscar nominations. His second Academy Award nod got here as a producer of greatest image nominee “Hidden Figures.”
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Williams additionally has intensive expertise within the style trade. He performed a task within the rise of streetwear, co-founding the label Billionaire Boys Membership with Japanese designer Nigo in 2003, and launching collaborations with Adidas in addition to luxurious manufacturers Moncler and Chanel. In 2004, he collaborated with Louis Vuitton designer Marc Jacobs, designing eyewear for the label.
Final yr, Williams created buzz when he turned up for Nigo’s debut style present in Paris for LVMH-owned label Kenzo carrying diamond-studded glasses made by Tiffany – one other design venture with a model belonging to LVMH.
The appointment marks the primary transfer by Louis Vuitton’s newly appointed CEO, Pietro Beccari.
“Williams is a big rent, wanted to fill the large boots left by Virgil Abloh,” mentioned analysts at Credit score Suisse, noting that the “main transfer” by the brand new CEO suggests the model’s hyperlinks with popular culture and music will proceed.
Abloh, who died in November 2021, was style’s highest-profile Black designer and symbolized the fusion of streetwear with high-end style, mixing influences like graffiti artwork and skateboard tradition into his kinds.
The label’s design studios have since drawn on Abloh’s designs, bringing in performers starting from Florida’s Marching 100 band and rapper Kendrick Lamar to Spanish singer Rosalia to energise catwalk exhibits.
Reporting by Mimosa Spencer in Paris and Lisa Richwine in Los Angeles
Writing by Tassilo Hummel
Enhancing by Leslie Adler and Matthew Lewis
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