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FashionMusicArtCulture

Pharrell and Nigo Bubble Up at Louis Vuitton

23 January 2025

In one of the oldest theories of distribution, American economist and sociologist Thorstein Veblen noticed that the bourgeois class spent money on luxury goods and services to communicate their wealth to peers and other members of society. The application of this dated observation to contemporary fashion helps in determining how trends are diffused: once a trickle-down effect is completed, the superordinate (ruling class) then dispenses the trend and infiltrates their circle. There is, however, the ‘Bubble-Up’ effect, which was first described by Paul Blumberg in the 1970s, which details how the lower ranks of society can inform the style and predominance of those further up the social strata. In 2025, it is no feat to say that Veblen’s theory has officially gone downside-up, with the street informing much of what we see across the luxury sector. 

Nowhere was this more apparent than at the Louis Vuitton Fall show, held within the main courtyard of the Louvre in a circular tent that mimicked the circular vaults of an archive. It seemed fitting to locate the show within a space formerly reserved for French kings in pre-revolution France—it was also a fortress—and now the national art museum. The male models were interspersed with what appeared to be inventory workers, trundling large plastic trunks between the parade.

An archive can refer to any medium used for storing information or the physical facility where the archived materials are housed. So much of Pharrell Williams and Nigo's is formed in the archive of cultural memory: Williams’ thirteen Grammy wins, his media company I Am Other; and for Nigo: Kenzo, Bape Cuts hair salon, Bape Café, BABY MILO, etc., and brand collaborations between A Bathing Ape (BAPE) and Pepsi, Star Wars, and Disney. The legacy of both is now discussed on online forums like Reddit or traded on open marketplaces like Grailed. 

Pharrel and Nigo's opening look in their collaboration collection for Louis Vuitton featured a brown tweed wool suit with a jacket that included double chest pockets, layered over an argyle sweater vest, shirt and tie that shouted ‘Ivy League.’ This was followed by a Prince of Wales-check chesterfield coat and trousers with a relaxed, boot-cut leg and a double-breasted tobacco suit with the narrowest of lapels. The Louis Vuitton monogram was woven into the weft of the fabric, secured with a custom blossom button. These opening looks, along with later uses of suiting and streetwear, created the perfect wardrobe for navigating the city’s psycho-geography—a study of the character of the street, whether in Japan, the boulevards of Paris, or the streets of New York or Los Angeles.

Streetwear vernacular was also present in chore or street sweeper jackets, Barbour-style wax jackets, Carhartt C04s, shell suits, ski suits, and tracksuits, all reimagined with gold hardware, zipper pulls, and elevated details. Techniques such as the Japanese boro-repair method created intricate patterns across jackets and denim. Elsewhere, denim featured Louis Vuitton’s monogram bleached or embroidered into the fabric, while ‘Damouflage’ (Damier camouflage) appeared in various stages of magnification (BAPE released its iconic camo in 1996 and the pattern has had over 50 iterations.) These subtle enhancements distinguish the ready-to-wear versions from the originals by Carhartt, Barbour, Dickies, and others.

Accessories slung across shoulders, or were clutched as wearable wallets or Bandoulières, Keepalls, Neverfulls, shopper totes, and backpacks—some micro, and I mean micro—with charms, lobsters, or luggage tags hanging off the edge. Chunky chains looped and swung from belts, as did keys clipped on carabiners. I spied a flip phone dangling from a clip (knock-off or “kirf” versions of these have been available in China for some time). 

In addition to confirming the blurring of boundaries between street and luxury, the show revolved around the enduring friendship between creative directors Pharrell and Nigo. Pharrell and Nigo initially met by chance in the early aughts. Their introduction came through Jacob Arabo, the jeweller to the stars (and timepiece specialist), who was helping Nigo by making copies of the oversized gold chain necklaces that Williams favoured. Garment and styling notes throughout their collaborations—this show being the most recent and the most elevated—continue to point to these two men as instrumental in globalising the language of hip-hop style. Coming together here, the two remind us that the ‘bottom’ has not only bubbled up but submerged us all in the depths of the bath.

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