Louis Vuitton Spring-Summer 2025: From Pharrell to the World
Since Pharrell Williams took over as the head of Louis Vuitton’s menswear atelier, the Maison’s runway shows have served as the unofficial opening ceremony for Paris Fashion Week. Last June, guests were ferried by boat for a show on Pont-Neuf, with a party until the early morning; in January, a momentous show was held at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, with drinks, bites and a concert afterwards. This June, Pharrell summoned guests, including Colman Domingo, Wembanyama, Stormzy, A$AP Ferg, Burna Boy, Steven Yeun, Tems, and Sabrina Carpenter to UNESCO’s headquarters, where Louis Vuitton Spring-Summer 2025 menswear collection was shown on the roof of Maison UNESCO. It was a beautiful and dramatic setting, with a maze-like damier grass runway around a globe, all flanked by the flags of the world, whipping in the wind.
All of Paris is abuzz with preparations for next month’s Olympics and that seemed to be front and centre of Pharrell’s mind when conceiving this collection. As the world prepares to descend on Paris, this was “an homage to mankind.”
At its heart, Louis Vuitton is about travelling — yes, luggage is an important part of that, but it’s a worldly brand for worldly people who are inspired by travel. As such, Pharrell took inspiration from airlines, with silk foulards on a number of necks, brooches that resembled the pins worn by flight attendants and pilots, and collared leather jackets much like those worn by the pilots of yore. There were sunglasses, the LV Passport, constructed with winged frames across a range of silhouettes.
Each season has seen Pharrell rework the Maison’s iconography in new ways, and this was no different. Damouflage, introduced last June, was reworked to create a magnified snake skin pattern — luxurious, but visually confounding at first glance, as it was only upon closer inspection that one realized these were actually textiles and not leather. Working with Air Afrique, blackwatch tartan was reworked with Damier and Damouflage elements and used on suits and bags.
Considering the setting, bright and airy with the grass runway and incredibly colourful with the flags flapping away, bright colours could reasonably be expected. Instead, Pharrell zigged where others might have zagged, with a largely demure, but striking, opening 10 looks: smoking jackets, trench coats, tracksuits, vests, trousers, and even trunk luggage rendered in various treatments of black.
In fact, the majority of the collection hewed to a neutral palette with rich browns, taupe-y tans, crisp whites, and mauve greys — one might have called it earthy in reference to the ground, but this was earthy in that it was inspired by the many shades and tones of human skin. The idea of recreating skin also imbued the technical aspect of the clothes, with intricate savoir-faire used to give patterns and Monogram skin-like qualities, and second-skin garments made from the finest silk and translucent fabrics.
Pharrell is a showman at heart and he used the palette to masterful effect, saving pops of colours for later in the collection. There was a translucent red jacket to match a trunk and briefcase, a dusty pink bomber, Speedy P9s and 30s rendered in pastels and, most remarkably, a colourful Damier that adorned bags, leather jackets, denim, and tailoring, in both micro and macro formats. It was playful, but still rooted in Louis Vuitton’s illustrious history, a nod, perhaps, to Takashi Murakami’s colourful collaboration with Louis Vuitton under Marc Jacobs, which Pharrell referenced on Instagram in the lead up to the show.
Sprinkled throughout the collection were bags from a new line of soft leather goods. These included icons like the Alma, Christopher, and Neverfull, which have been crafted from super supple, highly luxurious leather with aged VVN trim. Archival styles, like the Danube, Nile, Amazon, and Bastille made an unexpected, but welcomed, return in soft leather, as well.
With the idea of worldly travel firmly nailed, the Louis Vuitton Spring-Summer 2025 collection also made reference to the world of sport, with a range of LVFC (Louis Vuitton Football Club) pieces. There were sporty polos and jerseys with Louis Vuitton branding and floral detailing, but also a pair of stunning leather pieces — a jacket and a pop-over top — that looked as though they had been constructed from the panels of deflated soccer balls. In a collection that was lighter on sneakers than in recent years — but rich in smart leather boots and single-strap shoes — there were soccer cleat style shoes, too. These sat on the Footprint sole, first introduced by Pharrell and now a key part of Louis Vuitton’s visual lexicon.
On the one hand, it felt like Pharrell was offering up a smattering of capsule collections across 80 looks — muted evening and formalwear, a collaboration with Air Afrique, LVFC, the various versions of the Damier. On the other, it felt quite cohesive, despite the seemingly disparate parts, much like humankind. It was celebratory and showy at times, but understated at others, leaving the feeling of a well-balanced offering that catered to a range of styles. Most importantly, though, it felt as if the collection was chock full of future classics — pieces that people remember and that they remember to wear.
As the opening ceremony that is Louis Vuitton’s menswear show drew to a close, the live music — provided by the Voices of Fire choir and l’Orchestre Pont-Neuf — had guests tapping their feet and moving to the beat. Even Anna Wintour bobbed her head and flashed a smile just before Pharrell and the Atelier team took a bow.
The world is coming to Paris. Louis Vuitton is ready to greet them.
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