In Pharrell’s latest Spring Summer 2025 collection for Louis Vuitton, the world is your oyster, and we’re all united despite our differences.
This may be the greatest airport you’ve ever come across. It’s not located in any particular country, but flights are arriving from all parts of the globe. Flags of every nation possible hang from poles in its arrival lounge, carpeted with bright, synthetic grass. People are queuing to have their passports stamped and checking in their oversized trunks, not wheeled pieces of luggage, for no additional cost; there’s no such thing as a no-entry list here. Each traveller is well-dressed: some even in crystal-embroidered coats, suitable only for the grandest of events. Passengers are indistinguishable from the pilots. Perhaps it’s not an airport but a gathering of world leaders at an established site. However, it didn’t seem like there were any diplomatic discussions on the table for today, not even in the foreseeable future.
Or maybe it’s the Louis Vuitton Spring Summer 2025 collection, a behemoth illustration of unity by artistic director Pharrell Williams. Like much of Louis Vuitton’s past releases, its centre is an anthology of travel, which has been further elaborated in its menswear as a celebration of diversity — that there are individual stories to be told for each of the 8.1 billion people in the world. This makes the venue choice its most impressive yet: the new season was unveiled at La Maison de I’UNESCO, the global headquarters for UNESCO. Then there were the clothes, with 82 looks that extended toward the propulsive waves of fashion inspired by global music (there was a live band again). Casting was at its most diverse — in terms of nationalities — yet. This time, the house even mentions the convergence of guests from all corners of the world, akin to its notions of travel.
There were hints of the new peppered in the Spring Summer 25 collection — Williams has previously reassured us what’s to come is something no one has seen from him before. Spring Summer 2025 was united by the sheer force of imagination driven by the types of travellers, but its unification this time made it all the more special. That meant using several personalities you’d spot in the airport as archetypes for the clothes — like pilots, diplomats and even the typical leisure traveller.There was an emphasis on delicate subtlety. It’s not a collection meant to be seen from afar. Peep closer, and you’ll notice the meticulous amount of detailed embroidery hidden underneath seemingly normal clothes — just like any traveller hoping not to stand out in the airport. Aviator bomber jackets made a complete comeback in style, while slender jackets, coats and pants — mimicking diplomatic uniforms — were abundant. What impressed more, however, were the bags. The new collection revealed a new line of soft leather goods: slouchy bags in the Alma, Christopher and Neverfull styles were crafted in highly supple leather. Not forgetting the trunks, designed in collaboration with Air Afrique, were works of highly accomplished craft. Even the invitation — a Louis Vuitton AirTag — makes it hard to ignore that the house is dedicated to the art of travel at the end of the day.
Once you are done with this story, click here to catch up with our June/July 2024 issue.
RELATED ARTICLES
Heaven & Earth
