Anne of Carversville is waiting as well-lit images of the Pharrell Williams Louis Vuitton Men’s show in Paris emerge. Dark images that don’t convey the luxury of the collection are not permitted. We don’t need to be first; we just need to be intuitively really good in our analysis.

Power shifts are happening and not everybody has gotten the message. Clearly, significant numbers of people are not pleased with these new dynamics.

That’s a shame, because the minute models hit the most spectacular runway in Paris — on the Pont Neuf overlooking the Seine — my immediate response was about the elegant tailoring and then the accessories.

The ‘Liberty’ luggage truck also told me that EVERY detail was in order around this epic Pharrell Williams blast-off.

It was only on Monday Juneteenth, that I learned about the Statue of Liberty as a gift to America from France, honoring the official end of slavery in America.

This new day Paris Cafe Society is just getting started, but it is real.

LVMH, Louis Vuitton and Pharrell Williams — plus their biggest assemblage of talents ever to attend a fashion show, according to reports — coupled with a few of us fashion folks — are all speaking the same language.

Louis Vuitton is in complete charge of their €20B in 2022 brand. They are not arrogant about their success — unlike lesser humans in their orbit.

As Pharrell constantly says, “It’s not about me.” Other people need to learn from his humility.

I think of him as the enormously talented and visionary conductor of a world-reknowned orchestra. He expresses his spirituality without telling us he is God — like the adidas guy.

I’m not expecting any stories from Pharrell that God comes to him in the shower, telling him to take away our civil rights. In the most important book I’ve read in years ‘America’s Four Gods’ [2010] Pharrell worships God #3 or maybe even #4. But I’ll go with #3 for Pharrell and #4 for me.

The other guy worships God #1, the wrathful, punishing God who hates LGBTQIA people, feminists, George Soros, Planned Parenthood and any Jewish Democrat. [Note, I am not speaking of Trump.]

What’s the Buzz About This Epic Night in Paris?

Luke Leitch @ Vogue [HE totally “gets it”] link

“We started small!” joked Louis Vuitton CEO Pietro Beccari straight after a show that was doubtless amongst the “biggest” Paris has ever seen by any metric. It was Beccari, fresh into the job, who appointed Williams to succeed the late Virgil Abloh. In his notes Williams dedicated the show to his predecessor: “This moment is dedicated to the giant before me. To our brother in spirit.” And that was only fit and right . . .
The most powerful love bombs of all were the accessories. Bags are what makes Vuitton’s world rotate and this collection was spun with many, many eye-catching variations: zingily colored Keepalls and Almas and Neverfulls and Speedys, worn in clusters, heaped deliciously . . .

And a final statement from Luke Leitch, who stabilized me when I was ready to throw darts at fashion people, the day of the Pharrell announcement:

What Williams took possession of with total assurance tonight was a position that many thought, for many reasons, he was either too much or not enough for. They were wrong. He delivered joy unconfined.

Rachel Tashjian @ Washington Post link

AOC notes that WaPo sent Rachel Tashijan to Paris for the Louis Vuitton Men’s show, and not their “critic at large”, who crucified the Pharrell Williams appointment in a diatribe filled with so many factual inaccuracies, I swore she was a Trumper.

Let’s just say that Jay-Z’s body guards would probably have put the older Black lady on the street, if she appeared on the Paris scene. [There’s another story around my age reference, but as Pharrell admonishes us . . . Joy, Joy, Joy. It’s my new calming mantra and tongue check.]

Rachel Tashijan articulates thoughts that I share, writing that the interchangeability of fashion and popular culture hit new highs Tuesday night in Paris.

“The celebrity is no longer the person reflecting a culture’s values but creating them.”

Tashijan also stressed just how well Williams understands fashion commerce . . . recognizing that “his garments and bags are all products.”

Then she got into Anne territory. . . yeah!

. . . it occurred to me that Williams is suggesting that the Louis Vuitton logo is a symbol of civility and gentleness. To wear it, to clad yourself in Williams’s exquisite taste, is to mark yourself as a member of a club committed to graciousness.

This is precisely why I’ve been researching the 1930s global cafe society that rose in Paris, spreading to London and New York. On my study list is also the well-known fact that many people of color wanted to stay on in Paris after WWII and why.

At the same time I have piles of research on people like Christian Dior’s sister Catherine and her dangerous personal exposure as a member of the French resistance.

Writing about Cartier’s new Grain de Cafe Collection featuring ambassador Elle Fanning as Grace Kelly, prompted my thoughts about the cafe society connection. When I asked my fab Squarespace AI assistant if Cartier’s creative director Jeanne Toussaint also helped the French resistance and Jews specifically, Lulu’s answer was worthy of an advanced, university-degree thesis.

That Liberty luggage truck rolling around the Louis Vuitton Men’s show was no small detail. AOC doesn’t give a twit about buttons vs safety pins on jackets. We care about Tashijan’s review wrap up:

The question is not whether Williams can design clothes or make covetable products. He knows better than anyone in the world what to buy and why you should buy it.
Instead, the question is whether Williams can convince the world that a corporate symbol really can mean all that he says it does. Can good taste change the world?

Elvire von Bardeleben @ Le Monde [link]

Oh please!! I moved to Virginia in fall 2020, to make good trouble in his home territory after Charlottesville 2017 and George Floyd 2020. After weeping for two weeks and getting an eye infection over Floyd’s murder before our very eyes, I knew that acting ‘radical’ was required. My comfort zone wasn’t the issue any longer.

After studying Virginia through Pharrell’s activist eyes, I know that this truly rare-jewel human and I are travelling on the same moonbeam.

Only now do I read these words:

Pharrell Williams: 'I'm an orchestra conductor'

Indeed he is. So let’s read what Le Monde has to say about the show, calling it “both original and commercial.”

Referencing all the controversy around the appointment — which no one has suggested was balanced or even fact-based — von Bardeleben reminds us that “this is the first time that a house of Louis Vuitton's stature has chosen a celebrity to steer its artistic direction over the long term. [Designers' contracts generally last three years, renewable].”

Le Monde also shares CEO Pietro Beccari branding instincts from the press event that all have referenced. Note that Vogue’s Luke Leitch seems to have had an earlier solo meeting with Pharrell, which is understandable after he stepped in with a positive view of the appointment. I wrote Vogue Business that night, saying “stop this insanity.” Leitch has images from the studio in his post.

"It was a risk," said CEO Pietro Beccari, whom we met before the show. "After Virgil [Abloh], I couldn't have chosen a traditional designer. I needed someone with something extra, a creative who touches people's hearts, through music, collaborations." For several months now in the fashion world, criticism has been rife: Would a music producer know how to come up with a viable clothing collection?

The answer to this question that fashion world has obsessed over for months now has been answered. And it has been asnwered with a royal flush poker hand.

None of Pharrell’s supporters expect the critics to become compliant. All we ask is for them to be reasonable and use some business logic in their statements.

Next spring, the Louis Vuitton customers will be voting, and that will settle the matter.

As Le Monde notes “Williams did not study fashion any more than Abloh, who graduated with a degree in architecture.”

Did fashion people think Virgil Abloh was an experiment? Living proof that LV wasn’t racist, so can we please get back to the real fashion business now?

Louis Vuitton has been on an epic financial roll in the last five years. Yes, we all agree that womens drives more revenue than mens. But I see many women buying those new bags and accessories.

And the HEART that Pharrell brings to LV has no financial price and easily transfers to womens. Who knows, they may do some projects together.

WaPo’s Rachel Tashijan correctly identified the mission at hand. The world is in a precarious place and if you asked me, who do I believe can have the greatest positive impact right now in creating a more stable, non-autocratic global order, my answer is LVMH.

I’ve taken this position for several years. LVMH is committed to telling the stories of our humanity and our history, including our ancient history at Belmond Hotel Properties. ~ Anne