5 things to know about Louis Vuitton's first show with Pharrell Williams

Last night, LVMH held what is perhaps the most monumental of its shows featuring Pharrell Williams presenting his first collection for Louis Vuitton. In the very long front row that ran the two sides of Pont Neuf, Paris, were thronged all the most important celebrities on the planet, the gotha of LVMH designers and the fashion press, and the most impressive army of PR people the French capital has ever seen. The collection was, from a design point of view, pop and commercial - but then again, could avant-garde be expected from the world's most profitable brand? There was definitely a continuity with the language established by Virgil, a strongly American vein, but also enough variation to create a more or less precise identification with Pharrell and his style. 

However, there were various references and hidden meanings in the show, here are what the main ones were.

Did the Louis Vuitton show referenced Minecraft?

Actually no, multi-scale camouflage or digital camouflage is a pattern that has been part of the language of fashion for a long time-already Raf Simons in his historic FW02 collection employed it for example. The pattern has a long history but it was the Canadians who first employed it again in 2002 under the name Canadian Disruptive Pattern. From Louis Vuitton the pattern took the name "Damoflage," with clear reference to the Damier pattern that dominated the entire collection and was a reference to Atari's 8-bit graphics, made for the occasion by artist ET. The color palette was very reminiscent of Minecraft gameplay, as mentioned, but actually the use of pixels was meant to elevate the classic checkerboard pattern by creating a visually vibrant pattern on the one hand and suggesting a digitization of the pattern on the other - the transition of Louis Vuitton's traditional language into the connected world of social and technology.

Why Pont Neuf?

The show's location, the Pont Neuf, represents a symbolic connection between Paris and Virginia, Pharrell Williams' home state. The path over the bridge recalls memories of Princess Anne High School in Virginia Beach, a pivotal institution in Pharrell's education, but also to a "path" that has come to a climax now but began long ago for Pharrell through his friendship with Marc Jacobs and Pietro Beccari. We could also say that the Pont Neuf, a stone's throw from the Cheval Blanc hotel and the brand's design studio, is perhaps the most typically Parisian and monumental location one could think of.

What did the inscription LVERS mean?

The main logo that dominated many of the collection's most prominent outerwear, as well as several other garments, transforms Louis Vuitton's initials into the word LVERS. It is clearly an ironic distortion of the word "lovers," meant to evoke the vitamin-packed, cheerful vibe Pharrell brought to the collection, but also a nod to Pharrell's home state of Virginia, whose national slogan is precisely Virginia is for Lovers.

Did Stefano Pilati walked the runway?

Yes, if you have been watching carefully, one of the models on the catwalk (the show's casting included for the first time a plus-size model as well as female supermodels such as Anna Ewers and Anok Yai) was the legendary Stefano Pilati, former creative director of Saint Laurent and Agnona, as well as founder of Random Identities and a past collaborator with brands such as Armani, Prada, Miu Miu and Zegna. Considered one of those designers who are always ahead of the trend curve, Pilati's presence on the runway was probably meant to testify to the foresight with which the brand wants to operate by thinking not in terms of seasons but entire decades.

What is Pharrell's favorite Louis Vuitton bag?

In his interviews, Pharrell seemed most interested in talking about Louis Vuitton's Speedy model, which he reinterpreted by respecting the original design but eliminating the classic semi-rigid canvas structure in favor of a soft leather construction that makes it foldable and capable of flexing and bending «through everyday wear and gestures» and thus making the bag both more luxurious, thanks in part to its screen-printed monogram, and more suited to the idea of everyday wardrobe and contemporary lifestyle needs that Pharrell wanted to develop.