Pharrell Williams is opening up about his appointment as creative director of Louis Vuitton menswear.
In an interview with the Business of Fashion published on Monday, October 9, Williams, 50, revealed that he was surprised by the offer. “I mean, weren’t you surprised when you heard it?” he asked the interviewer, adding, “I just hadn’t even considered myself in that way.”
“That’s why this whole thing has just been so mind blowing,” Williams continued. “I’ve just been so touched by the whole thing … that someone would see me that way. But then there are certain parts within you that you know were there, but you’re just not even thinking about it in that way.”
Williams succeeds his late friend Virgil Abloh as creative director, whose shocking death in November 2021 stunned the fashion world. Abloh founded the brand Off-White before his appointment to Louis Vuitton in 2018, and has been widely credited in bringing streetwear into the high fashion space.
Abloh’s appointment was groundbreaking; he was the first Black American to serve as Creative Director of menswear in the brand’s over 150-year history. Williams admits that Abloh has “giant shoes” to fill but insists that’s not his goal. “I’m not here to fill my brother’s shoes,” he told the Business of Fashion. “My brother’s shoes are his shoes. And the steps that he took are his steps.”
As for Williams’ own steps? He hopes to convey the concept of freedom in his work, declaring it a “luxury” and a “heavy word” in a world in which so many are bound by economic, social and legal hardship.
“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,” Williams explained in the interview. He later remarked, “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.”
This sentiment of freedom also reverberated throughout Abloh’s work – in particular, the Pre-Fall/Winter collection he designed for Louis Vuitton in 2019, which was heavily inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
If Williams’ goal is to carve out his own path in the fashion industry, he is off to a strong start. His first show for Louis Vuitton Menswear, which debuted in Paris in June, garnered a staggering 1 billion views online. The show was attended by a long list of stars including Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Zendaya, Naomi Campbell and Kim Kardashian.
