Pharrell Williams appointed as Creative Director of Louis Vuitton
Pharrell Williams appointed as Creative Director of Louis Vuitton
Written by By Hannah Makonnen
Fashion Minority Reports
Last Tuesday, Louis Vuitton announced that international music producer Pharrell Williams, would be assuming the position of Menswear Creative Director, with his first collection set to arrive in June this year for Men’s Fashion Week in Paris.
The news comes 15 months after the untimely death of Vigil Abloh in November 2021, who as former Creative Director, spearheaded their shift to streetwear. Vuitton’s profitable relationship with street style explored new avenues and customer bases, garnering a revenue of €20 billion last year alone, making it an obvious direction to continue in.
Speculation on which fashion figurehead would lead this continuation, led to whispers of potential candidates, including the likes of Martine Rose, Grace Wales Bonner and Telfar Clemens. Ultimately, as we now know, landing with Williams, whose fashion background is steeped in the successes of his own brand Billionaire Boys Club, which he founded in 2005.
According to The New York Times, this makes Williams one of four black creative directors and designers that hold positions in 69 of fashion’s leading brands. A topic which FMR’s own DEI newspaper, The Reporter, discussed in its article The Creative Director Diversity Dilemma.
In the piece, writer Tomi Otekunrin speaks to Creative Director of Perfect Magazine, Jeanie Annan-Lewin, on the issue of diversity amongst fashion’s highest positions. “Socially and economically, it’s really hard for POC and Black people, in particular, to make it to the final stop. It’s getting better, but I can think of all the Black designers and count them on my hands. It shouldn’t be like that”, she explains. Going on to describe the elitist nature of the industry, and how an essential factor to getting a c-suite position at an institutional fashion house, is personal wealth.
Leaving the reaction to Pharrell Williams appointment a divisive moment in fashion history. With his pre-existing status as a musical pioneer and cultural icon and reported net worth of $250 million, people are fraught with opinions on whether this was a commercial move from Louis Vuitton, in seek of profit, as opposed to the genuine nurturing of diverse talent and design.
You can read more about The Creative Director Diversity Dilemma in the latest issue of The Reporter, available online.
