PHARRELL Williams reunited with long-term collaborator Nigo for Louis Vuitton‘s AW25 menswear collection. After the news erupted that the French Maison was unveiling a range of re-editions of the 2003 Takashi Murakami capsule earlier this month, it feels a bit like we are having a throwback moment – and I am very much here for it.
Specifying immediately in the show notes that 2025 is all about gazing “into the future through the telescope of history” it becomes clear that every minute detail is very intentional. Having first worked together when they set up Billionaire Boys Club and ICECREAM in the early noughties, the duo helped lay the foundation of streetwear together, influencing music and culture, rooting themselves in a new sub-culture through their shared stylistic expression.





With an unmatched knowledge of 20th century workwear and a mind that works as an archive (along with owning one in Tokyo that holds over 10,000 rare pieces), Nigo’s homecoming for AW25 turns back to their shared past and salutes it.
Starting with the silhouette, the spirit of the 2000s flourishes as streetwear holds hands with dandyism to combust and create a cross-pollination of relaxed suiting and formalised uniforms that amplify the material choice. Thinks varsity jackets that are constructed from leather and Japanese cuts applied to tailoring.
Using this moment to honour his homeland, Nigo infuses motifs and employs traditional techniques from Japan into the intricacies of the collection. The House’s flower emblem is shown using shippo weaving in the jacquards; the sashiko stitch is found across the denim and on crystal embroidery; and kasuri weaving is used in the silk wool outerwear. The Damoflage is presented with Cherry Blossom and executed with blubby yarn to add another dimension, and the Cherry Blossom Paris Fuji motif is enlisted to frame two locations in sakura.



Accessories were always going to be the main talking point of AW25, and the pair didn’t cut corners. Three new bag motifs were presented and were aptly nicknamed Phriendship Bags. Damier’s brown chequerboard canvas was overlaid with three different profiles of their faces to represent the three decades they have known one another; the Dandy Damier Leather Goods lines got a rendition of the aforementioned without their faces and lined with red and white; and the Damier Scribbles sees the chequers in white-on-white and written over by Nigo with the phrase Louis Vuitton and LVERS in both French and Japanese.
Slouchy Hobo, Yuzu-yellow Speedys, Courrier Lozine 110 acrylic trunk in collaboration with Japanese artist Azuma Makoto and LV ButterSoft pillow-like sneakers with LV FROG sunglasses, hand-crotched dad caps and chunky Icon Beanies – and that’s a small highlight of what the two presented but you get the gist.







Whilst Pharrell and Nigo working together is hardly a new concept, it is one that hasn’t yet been exhausted. AW25 was cohesive and modern with all the right ‘Ah remember those’ moments across the designs, and as you can see there were many.
And though I doubt this will be the last time we see the two reunite, this seems to be a perennial moment in their story as though they looked to design for the future, it was very much a chapter that honoured their past.
by Imogen Clark