✨ Pharrell's LV Hits Shelves
What is good and what is bad...
GM all. Tonight I am going to a talk at the Sporty & Rich store featuring Emily Oberg and nutritionist Max Lugavere. Details from that will be on Monday’s newsletter. In the meantime, since its Friday I thought it would be fun to take a close look at Pharrell’s debut Louis Vuitton collection now that its on shelves and see what is good and what is bad.
First some headlines—
Amer Sports, the owner of Salomon and Arc’teryx has filed for an IPO. Gorpcore enthusiasts can now own every color of the Beta AR jacket and own stock in the company. Sales for the brand hit $3.05B in at the end of Q3 2023, compared to $2.35B a year earlier. The immense love for Salomon and Arc’teryx (the product is quite good) has lifted their parent brand up beyond expectation. I wrote about the next possible evolution of gorpcore, ‘Quiet Outdoor’ a few weeks ago.
Marina Abramović is launching a skincare brand. The conceptual and performance artist says the brand will be focused on wellness and mindfulness. This is how we know we’ve really reached beyond the peak of celebrity-backed skincare brands.
Josh Wine has gone viral. After an X user posted a photo of his Josh wine, telling people to leave ‘Stella and Barefoot’ behind, users began to meme the name of the wine brand. Some good examples—
If I was on the Josh marketing team I would be so juiced rn. BTW a bottle of Josh wine is $17, probably about $3 less than a single glass of natural wine at Gem Wine, where I’ll be tn.
Okay let’s get into Skateboard P’s LV—
Louis Vuitton by Pharrell
After the tragic passing of Virgil Abloh, LV appointed Pharrell Williams to creative direct menswear. I love PW, but I thought this was a bad choice. While he is a style legend, I would love to see the brand recruit new, fresh talent like Martine Rose, someone who is actually doing interesting things.
People loved the runway show (OMG this happened last June??) but now the collection has hit stores and I want to break down some things I hate and a few things I think are cool—
This digi-camo print is used throughout several pieces in the collection. Its the signature motif and is a play on LV’s classic Damier print. In this collection it appears frequently in these brown, green, Earthy tones. I’ll just say it, I really revile it. This has been said to death, but it looks like Minecraft. Not a fan.
Here we see it on a denim jacket, slightly better, but to me this just looks so obnoxious like it was designed for a bad NBA tunnel fit. Oh yeah, they just hyped up the collection with a new LV brand ambassador, LeBron James. So that tracks. I liked when LeBron wore Thom Browne…
We also have this print featured on the sneakers… 🤮
The bag I dislike the most is the leather shopping bag. We’ve seen so many brands do this I am shocked this is actually coming to production. So gauche.
I don’t want to be too much of a hater so here are some items I do like—
This pearl encrusted beanie is really cool, and elevates the normal garment into something that feels rich but relaxed.
Similarly, the pearl sunglasses are really cool and give off an alien vibe. This is interesting.
The simple LV skateboard was a must for Pharrell, and I think it is nice. This is going to be on a lot of hypebeast’s walls.
I think the LV monogram print is best used subtly, and I appreciate it on this leather jacket.
Capitalizing off the resurgence of Ugg, LV has this very posh, cozy looking boot that looks like a bear’s foot. Obviously this is hard to pull off, but I think its funny.
While I am not the target demo for stuff like this, I still think LV would have been much better off hiring an actual designer. To me, it feels like hiring Pharrell was to capitalize on his name recognition and the cultural weight he brings being a legend. Unfortunately, the clothes are bad.
Okay have a nice weekend, bye!
About the Writer
Jake Bell is a content marketing and creative strategist based in NYC. He specializes in content creation, branding, art direction, creative strategy, and making things cool.
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