Even before Rihanna arrived at the show incognito, her presence loomed. A week before, she’d appeared on a towering billboard on the river side of the Musée d’Orsay in a Louis Vuitton ad. Pharrell’s first face. A coup, even for him. “I walked in with that,” he tells me confidently. She was the face he wanted for his first campaign, so hers was the face he got.
The runway show had all the trappings of an epic spectacle. There was a live orchestra, then the Voices of Fire gospel choir led by his uncle Ezekiel, and a cascade of models wearing clothes that felt like they met the moment: vibrant, cool, opulent. It was not a tribute to Virginia so much as it was a tribute to love and joy and a kind of ecstatic, open-hearted optimism. LVERS, the show notes read, “is a state of mind: warmth, wellbeing, and welcome-ness.” This is Pharrell’s offering from Virginia to the world: abundant generosity of spirit, respect for humankind and ingenuity, love.
Not surprisingly, Pharrell ensured that music was an integral component of the night. The runway show featured a new Pharrell-produced song by Clipse, the beloved rap duo of brothers Pusha T and No Malice, who walked together in the show. For some rap fans, new Clipse music was as major a news-making moment as the new Speedy bags or his Damoflage innovation. Other designers have used the runway as a moment to debut new music—Ye debuted a whole album as part of a Yeezy-collection presentation. But the Yeezy audience was always made up of Ye fans. Pharrell is taking luxury clothes to a new audience, and taking the music from his hometown in Virginia to new listeners.
The grand finale was Jay-Z on a stage at the front of the runway performing a very generous melange of his hits, a few with Pharrell joining him. “This young man tonight did something extraordinary,” Jay yelled into the mic. “Pay homage to the great Skateboard P. Yes, sir. Congratulations, man. I’m so proud of you.”
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