We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: quiet luxury is not taking over luxury fashion. Our latest piece of evidence that affluent buyers still love their logos was Louis Vuitton’s recent Men’s Fashion Week show at the illuminated Pont Neuf Bridge in the city center on June 20. The show marked the debut collection of newly anointed creative director Pharrell Williams.
But it also reaffirmed Louis Vuitton’s commitment to its iconic monogram, and making that iconic monogram harder to obtain.
Prior to the show, Pharrell shared a photograph of himself via Instagram. In it, the designer stands in front of a massive billboard featuring a heavily pregnant Rihanna carrying Louis Vuitton’s Keepall travel bag in bright red, green and yellow.
But the Keepall wasn’t the only classic LV bag to get a makeover.
“I’m gonna show you, first of all, the Speedy,” Pharrell explained to Vogue. “One of the things I wanted to do when I got it. If you noticed Speedy’s never collapse like this because they’re usually made with a treated canvas. But this is a super duper soft leather as you can see – you can pinch it.” He then added, “You gonna have to pay for it too though!”
As we’ve mentioned before, Louis Vuitton is taking a cue from Chanel and working to shift its brand (and price points) even further upmarket. Redesigning one of its entry-level canvas bags in a supple, expensive leather is a seemingly simple way to achieve that goal. (Restricting access to entry-level bags by creating waitlists and making them unavailable for purchase online is another tactic LV is using.)
The official theme of the runway collection is “Lovers.” Pharrell explained, “LV is for Louis Vuitton, but it’s also for lovers, you know: lovers of the moment, lovers of detail, lovers of this time, and people who want to absolutely squeeze the best out of life, down to the last drop.” And for people who want everyone else to know immediately that they are squeezing the best out of life.
There were 84 looks in the show, nearly all of which included a bag. There were small crossbody bags, oversized duffle bags, and a few trunks that had to be driven down the runway — basically the opposite of quiet luxury.
What do you think of this latest collection of LV bags? Did Pharrell nail it?