The inclusive message behind Louis Vuitton’s men’s fashion show

Louis Vuitton is universal, this is unassailable. People who have no connection to fashion, nor any knowledge of its inner workings – young children who hear its name in rap lyrics, old financiers who appreciate its place as the biggest luxury brand in the world. world – not only understand Louis Vuitton’s place in the fashion system, but recognize its signs and signifiers. The Monogram, the Checkerboard, these are now universal symbols. And of course, Pharrell Williams is also universal; Today’s fashion designers are celebrities, but that usually comes from their work and not their resume to get the role in the first place. And it’s unique to have a creative director as acclaimed by the public as the celebrities he invites to his shows. It’s a universal appeal.

With all this, it was therefore normal that Vuitton presented its spring-summer 2025 fashion show in the gardens of UNESCO – the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, on the left bank of Paris. The ground bristled with a forest of world flags, brightly fluttering banners – a shorthand for each country, in the same way that the Vuitton logo and the mixed, muted colors of brown on brown became a shorthand for a state of luxury. And Williams essentially took inspiration from both – the tones in his collection were meant to represent the skin tones of humans across the planet – again, something encompassing, universal and inclusive.

Williams’ Vuitton collection itself has expanded – travel is another constant influence and inspiration behind Vuitton, reflecting all those flags flying. There were sportswear and suits, walking side by side, pell-mell without any sense of hierarchy or restriction. “The world is yours” was a phrase printed on denim pieces, which served as a title and a call to arms – explore, it seemed to implore. The creative collective Air Afrique – who take their name from the pan-African airline operating from 1961 to 2002 – collaborated on graphics and designs, including imaginary football kits. Soccer balls also formed prints and patterns, another notion of the universal and unifying, something beyond the conventional boundaries of fashion.

“There is no household in the world that does not have (contact) with Louis Vuitton,” the brand’s CEO Pietro Beccari said earlier this year. And he’s right: Williams’ mission and automatic advantage lie in the way he connects with a wide range of culture, music and fashion lovers, on many levels. He has a universal appeal and eye. He’s also not precious and understands that Vuitton should – indeed must be – something greater than the sum of its parts. So while the bags in this collection were awesome – squashed, sloppy rendered archival shapes, with big zippers that forced their way through the normally stiff accessories and accessories, and the joke of “YOUR NAME” printed in bold where personalized initials would. normally sitting (whether this was an invitation to personalization or a permanent pun proposed, I’m not entirely sure) – that wasn’t the main point.

This could be sacrilege at Vuitton, just like the former creative director Marc JacobsStarting out almost without a handbag was considered an affront 25 years ago. For your information, Jacobs was the first to bring Williams to Vuitton, recognizing his possibility to seduce not only the fashion world, but the entire world. And today, Vuitton presents itself as a cultural house, part of something bigger than fashion.. And that is how Williams’ collections should be judged – not as product showcases, but as statements of intent, with their own soundtracks and meanings. And here, their message of universality and rapprochement – ​​on the eve of the Olympic Games – spoke volumes. Like Williams himself said of his appointment almost exactly a year ago: “It goes beyond clothes. »