Flaunt Magazine [IG] Issue 199, ‘Fleeting Twilight’ shares key looks from the Louis Vuitton Men’s Pre-Fall 2025 Collection. Creative Director Pharrell Williams previewed the collection in Miami December 2024, with the upcoming Met Gala dandy aesthetic on his mind.

Flaunt Magazine LVM models include Addison Stender, Ayo Hassan and Charlie Nolte, styled by John Tan. London-LA based photographer Ollie Ali [IG] is behind the lens. / Makeup by Deborah Altizio

I just reviewed again Jonathan Anderson’s swoon-worthy debut men’s collection for Christian Dior, and like Pharrell, he also tapped the ‘young aristocrats’ trend, but adding skirts for men and nipping his waists with overtly-femme swagger and white bow ties.

Louis Vuitton Men Compared to The Absolutely-Brilliant Jonathan Anderson Dior Mens Debut

Pharrell played his ties straight and long, Anderson likes bows. Both designers did white ties and the Louis Vuitton man does go to the office to afford his wardrobe preferences. He’s a working man. Anderson’s Dior man is a trust fund kid — or maybe the growing number of men — at least in America — living at home with parents.

Dandyism is a design key to writing about both collections — Dior Spring 2026 and Louis Vuitton Pre-Fall 2025. Yes, Pharrell was off to India with lean and long fluidity for his Spring 2026 collection, which AOC loved.

There’s no reason to believe these guys are intellectuals walking around with books tucked under their arm. We’re close to burning books in America — especially books about ‘men’ in skirts. Sorry Scotland and select members of the British aristocracy.

Attention Men: Books Are Sexy

NYT columnist Maureen Dowd’s column weekend column addressed this very issue: Attention, Men: Books Are Sexy! [30-day link compliments of AOC]. Dowd wrote:

Men are reading less. Women make up 80 percent of fiction sales. “Young men have regressed educationally, emotionally and culturally,” David J. Morris wrote in a Times essay titled “The Disappearance of Literary Men Should Worry Everyone.”
The fiction gap makes me sad. A man staring into a phone is not sexy. But a man with a book has become so rare, such an object of fantasy, that there’s a popular Instagram account called “Hot Dudes Reading.”

Long Live the Apero

Regarding the story title, Louis Vuitton does not have an ‘Apero’ bag, according to Google AI. AOC wondered if we missed something. Other labels do have an Apero.

‘Apero’, short for apértif, refers to a French tradition of enjoying a pre-dinner drink with snacks and nibbles. Like so much of the French lifestyle, apero signals a lifestyle moment to unwind, socialize and prepare the palate for the meal to follow.

Essentially, apero symbolizes a broader philosophy of embracing leisure, luxury, and quality time — all values that are deeply embedded in the Louis Vuitton brand identity.

A Toast to Arnault Family Lunches

With Pietro Beccari, chairman and CEO of Louis Vuitton, focused on Formula 1 and the embrace of high-speed, high-bar excellence at LV, it’s not clear how much time Beccari takes to enjoy an apero. Especially, if discussing business is the purpose.

Anyone who has spent lots of time in Paris understands well that discussing business anywhere and anytime is frowned upon. Especially at the dinner table.

Now lunch is another matter, and it’s reported that LVMH leader Bernard Arnault has a weekly lunch with his five children dining in person or dialing in if necessary.

This lunch is strictly business and unlike press reports about sibling rivalry, no one is remotely guilty — or sharing the table in person — of trying to poison a brother or sister in hopes of locking down the LVMH succession plan.

I know — it’s all so boring compared to the thirsty clickbait headlines . ~ Anne