The Paris Fashion Week exploded into life last night as Pharrell Williams took over the Louis Vuitton Foundation in the leafy 16th arrondissement to stage his third blockbuster runway show – just shy of two months after he transported the fashion crowd to Hong Kong for his first big destination show. Obviously, the designer and the house are a match made in heaven since neither likes to do things by half. But with his feet firmly back on Parisian soil, could he top the mindblowing extravaganza that was his June 2023 Pont Neuf show, where Beyoncé, Rihanna, and Busta Rhymes sat front row, and Jay-Z and the N.E.R.D frontman himself took to the stage to perform certified banger “Frontin’”? We’ll let you be the judge of that. Here’s everything you need to know about the AW24 Louis Vuitton menswear show.

THE INVITE WAS AN EVENT IN ITSELF

@dazed A hat and a harmonica is the invite for @Pharrell’s @Louis Vuitton AW24 Men’s show happening tonight 🤠 What do you expect from the collection? 👀 #DazedFashionTV #TikTokFashion #LouisVuitton #AW24 #PFW #ParisFashionWeek #LVMenFW24 #Pharrell #Unboxing ♬ original sound - dazed

Sent over to editors’ hotels in a signature big yellow box came a two-parter invite. In a smaller red case was a silver Louis Vuitton ‘LVRS’-engraved harmonica, which chimed with the cowboy-influenced, Bafic-directed teaser posted on the LV Instagram shortly ahead of the show. Just about cementing the idea that Pharrell was set to look to the Wild West of USA for inspiration – because even the most literal invite can sometimes throw you off the scent – was a black LV-branded felt stetson. Cut to the Dazed social team trying to string a tune together for their TikTok unboxing to the detriment of their neighbours in the 9th.

THE SET TOOK US TO THE ROLLING PLAINS OF VIRGINIA

Pharrell has never forgotten where he came from, and looks to his home state of Virginia for inspiration on a regular basis – the legendary musician and LV creative director has even established his own music festival, Something In The Water, back in VA. At tonight’s show, he brought a bit of Virginia to Paris, with the runway flanked by huge digital screens depicting its rolling plains, vertiginous mountains, and lush fields.

THE USUAL FACES WERE ALL THERE

As always a crowd caused a bottleneck into the space as people stopped in their tracks to get a glimpse of Bradley Cooper, A$AP Nast, Will Poulter, Jackson Wang, and the hot priest himself, Andrew Scott. It wasn’t just the front row that was peppered with A-listers, though, with Pharrell phoning up a bunch of friends and familiar LV faces – like A$AP Nast, Anok Yai, and Mona Tougaard – and getting them to do their thing on the runway.

THE COLLECTION POINTED TO A RESURRECTION OF THE YEEHAW AGENDA

Trends come around quicker than ever in the year of our lord 2024, and Pharrell’s latest offering seemed to hint at the return of 2020’s ‘Yeehaw Agenda’ 2.0. Looking back to the first cowboys in the US of A, the designer turned out new takes on traditional American tropes, like boxy worker jackets featuring LV-ification in the form of patches and sequin motifs, hardy dark-denim flares matched with knee-high boots, and blanket overcoats designed to keep you warm by the campfire as you recuperated over a bowl of beans and grits (or, more likely, traipse between bars in the dead of Paris winter). The American Dandy, meanwhile, was kitted out in slick, slim tailoring dusted with a flamboyant smattering of crystals.

Pharrell also went hell for leather with wipe-clean all-in-ones, complete with glittering logo embellishments, go-faster stripes, and appliqued patches, and there was a smattering of cow print across the offering, too, with the designer turning out more of his pixelated motifs here. Accessories-wise, unsurprisingly there were a bunch of mega LV trunks turned out in glistening gold, sparkling red and black plaid, and more bovine finishes, and the legendary LV Millionaires sunglasses also made a comeback. First created by Pharrell and fashion bestie for the house way back in 2004, they were last resurrected by Virgil Abloh in 2018, and this time around came in a gold and diamond combo – just in case you were wondering how they got their name. Rounding things off was a collab with all-American footwear brand Timberland, with the classic boot getting the Vuitton treatment via subtle monogram stamping. 

PHARRELL MADE SURE EVERYONE WAS INCLUDED

A big part of the Yeehaw Agenda 1.0 was revisiting the history of the Wild West and rewriting the prominent Black cowboys back into its narrative, and tonight Pharrell went one step beyond that to ensure the indigenous people whose land was pillaged were not excluded from the conversation. As well as working with people from the Dakota and Lakota nations on embroidered Speedy bags and embellished accessories, he also joined forces with Dee Jay Two Bears on the soundtrack: a combo of four OG tracks produced by Pharrell created in collaboration with Miley Cyrus, the Native Voices of Resistance, Jelly Roll, and, as something of a wildcard (okay, a massive wildcard) 2008 folk indie faves Mumford & Sons. Of all the people I thought I would see at tonight’s LV show, Marcus Mumford was absolutely not one of them. But that’s fashion week, baby, and anything can happen – and we’ve still got six more days to go, so strap in.