Earlier this year it was announced that Pharrell Williams, musical genius turned fashion extraordinaire, would replace the late Virgil Abloh as creative director for Louis Vuitton's menswear line. While the announcement was met with mixed reviews - some felt he was the perfect successor to Abloh, while others thought the role should have gone to someone with hard fashion training - his first collection as creative director was HIGHLY anticipated by most fashion enthusiasts. How would Pharrell continue Virgil's legacy while putting his own spin on the brand? The answer came on June 20th when Williams debuted his first collection to a truly star-studded audience - I mean, Beyonce and Jay-Z graced the crowd with their presence!

During an interview leading up to the show, Pharrell mentioned that his creative direction would be from a "consumer" point of view, and that firmly came across in the collection - the collection was wearable, wearable. wearable. The beginning of the show featured what the brand refers to as a damoflouge print (a version of LV's classic damier print in camo form). Aside from suits and outerwear, the print was heavily used to make accessories (a fun moment included a model driving a four-wheeler down the runway that carried a variety of hard luggage in the damoflouge print). But damoflouge was not the only reference to the damier print. When talking to Vogue, Pharrell mentioned that he would be heavily leaning into experimenting with damier during his tenure - this was seen later in the show with clothing pieces made from enlarged damier fabrics in new color combinations. As Vuitton is first and foremost a leather goods and luggage brand, the heavy use of damier translated directly to the collection's accessory offerings as well (a maroon damier coat paired with a yellow and brown damier travel bag was a personal favorite).

While there were other clothing themes that appeared throughout the show (references to Pharrell's Virginia roots, other classic Vuitton leather good materials translated into clothing, and the city of Paris itself, with landmarks most notably printed on an elaborate top coat), it was the accessories, specifically the bag options, that will undoubtedly be the best sellers of the collection. Bags featured new interpretations of the Louis Vuitton logo, and arguably the most popular will be versions of their "Speedy" and "Keep-all" bags in a variety of different sizes and bright colors such as red, yellow and green - an orange version will only be available to Vuitton's top clients.

So what did I think about the collection? I'll be honest, I loved it - and not just because Pharrell is my Virginia Beach brethren. Was the collection groundbreaking or super innovative, no. However I am not of the belief that every fashion designer has to create brand new silhouettes or push forward an avant-garde aesthetic to have impact. To me, what Pharrell did was exactly what made sense (and probably what the heads of LVMH wanted him to do) - expand on Virgil's highly commercially successful run by continuing to reinterpret classic house codes in fun and eye-catching ways. This collection will be a sure fire hit because it encompassed classic and recognizable Louis Vuitton staples, updated to reflect a very modern, 2023 aesthetic and using elevated and more luxurious materials usually reserved for womenswear (for example, many of the bags, shoes, and clothes were pearl and crystal encrusted). It was definitely hard to narrow down my favorite pieces from the show, which featured 75 looks, but I did my best - take a look below:

(Thumbnail Photo: Photo: Daniele Oberrauch / Gorunway.com / Vogue Runway)