Pre-Fall 2024 marked Pharrell Williams’ second Louis Vuitton Menswear show, this one apparently no less of a spectable than his first show for LVMH with the location choice being Hong Kong’s Avenue of the Stars where models walked a 400m runway with a drone light show attempting to steal their thunder. The Louis Vuitton set-up was that of a Hawaiian beach complete with palm trees and ukeleles, artificial waves on screens, and real sand on the runway. The inspiration of the collection was also beachy – sailor hats, palm tree and seascape prints, and large hibiscus-style florals.
Although I thought it was much better than Pharrell’s first Louis Vuitton collection, some of it (the dungarees and varsity styles for example) felt out of place. Also maybe it’s the glasses and the berets but I immediately thought of Balmain‘s AW2019 Menswear collection by Olivier Rousteing.
In the spirit of Monday’s BFC Fashion Awards, here are my Top & Bottom 5 Looks, Best & Worst Accessories, and Best & Worst Prints from the collection.
My favourite looks are all pretty casual – even the suit I picked out is laid back with its wide leg trousers, oversized blazer and tank top rather than shirt underneath.
The printed shorts set is a strong look and the pieces would work either together or as separates – the same can be said for the teal tracksuit. The oversized trousers and bomber jacket are pretty essential techwear items, and I like the sporty, beachy feel of the final set.
I’m always going to hate on dungarees – sorry! I don’t think they’re flattering on anyone, and I’m really not into this styling with the baggy long sleeved shirt.
The other four that I chose are not necessarily bad but I just didn’t think they worked, or they weren’t cohesive with the rest of the collection. The black and burgundy leather coat seemed out of place with the beachy vibe of the rest of the clothes, and I’m not keen on the different coloured chin guard or the length of the zip.
The two varsity jackets are nice pieces but I’m just not a fan of the styling or the very visible branding on the burgundy jacket. For the shorts and shirt set, I’m not keen on the shiny fabric.
I love trunk-style bags and briefcases – this is my favourite accessory in the entire collection not just for its shape but also for the print. The palm trees, flowers, and surfboards are really fun, and this would be a cute statement bag for spring and summer.
There are two things I don’t like here, with the first one being the obvious branding. The second is that it’s a bum bag (or fanny pack or waist bag or whatever you call these where you live). I thought designers had reached a consensus a few seasons ago to get these off the catwalk and let them rest in peace but it seems there’s a few iterations left.
All the seascape prints were lovely, but this pink one caught my eye – it’s pink, no further comment necessary.
I don’t actually think this is a bad print, but just as I chose a “Best Print”, I had to choose a “Worst Print”. If anything, I think this is a “Difficult Print”. It reminds me of the stripes that Vivienne Westwood uses, and I can imagine it working perfectly with her tailoring techniques. I’m sure this suit (or the trousers or blazer alone) would work if styled well, but I think there’s a fine line with this print between where it’ll look good and where it’ll look like it should’ve been reserved for homewares not apparel. That fine line also exists with the antique florals trend – that’s one of my favourite prints right now and it can take a while to find the right piece to make it look good!
I mentioned that at first glance I was reminded of Olivier Rousteing’s AW2019 menswear collection for Balmain, so just in case you don’t remember that collection or you hadn’t seen it, here are a couple of side-by-side images of some runway looks. What do you think?
All runway images are from Vogue Runway.
