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Though Pharrell Williams’ debut collection as creative director of Louis Vuitton men’s will only come on June 20, the multi-hyphenate star provided an indelible glimpse at what his tenure will look like through an ad campaign starring Rihanna. In the visual, Rihanna wears a leather trench, decorated in what appears to be a pixelated version of the monogram pattern, and her baby bump is on full display (an ever-effective maternity style move for the star). She is a vision of luxury on the go—the starlet carries an array of colorful LV-monogram bags on her arms and even a coffee cup featuring a decorated holder sleeve.
The fact that Rihanna is starring in the ad campaign for a men’s category exemplifies the growing fluidity in fashion. It is not the first time Louis Vuitton has played with traditional gender lines. In 2016, Jaden Smith appeared in a Louis Vuitton woman’s ad wearing a metal embroidered kilt. In neither case do the stars appear as if they’re wearing clothes meant for someone else or existing outside of the gender binary, but, instead, simply expressing themselves.
It is likely that more previous musical collaborators and muses of Pharrell (he and Rihanna worked together on the bouncy 2017 track “Lemon”) will appear in his ad campaigns. In a way, this might be the greatest promise of Pharrell as creative director at such a storied house—someone who can effortlessly blend the worlds of hip-hop and luxury. The runway presentation for Pharrell’s first collection at Louis Vuitton men’s will take place next week. We’ll be watching.
