Louis Vuitton SS26 Men’s Collection moves between Paris and India, shaped by contemporary dandyism and everyday elegance. Pharrell Williams, working in dialogue with Studio Mumbai, builds a show that reflects India’s materials, rhythms, and colours, not as reference but as presence. With the Centre Pompidou as the set location, architect Bijoy Jain creates a space inspired by the ancient Indian board game Snakes and Ladders, its logic of risk and chance aligning with Pharrell’s vision of movement and ambition.
Williams channels present-day Indian sartorial instinct: a wardrobe grounded in texture, shaped by sunlight, and connected to both the city and the natural world. The show doesn’t reference India, it responds to it, through cloth, cut, and saturated colour. Fine tailoring appears weathered and sunworn. Fabrics reveal touch and time. Stripes interrupt checks, and trompe l’oeil patterns distort expectation.
Colours shift in tone depending on fabric, from purple taking the place of black to hues that fade as if exposed to months of sunlight. Materials play a quiet game of erosion and softness, nothing looks fresh from the workshop.
The silhouette feels soft, layered with shirts, waistcoats, and jackets that drape over trousers or shorts. Mountaineering influences filter through shell jackets and fleece-like blousons, reworked with ornate trims and references to traditional patterns. Hiking boots carry the same dandy sensibility as embroidered waistcoats.
The collection shifts denim toward a new direction. A brown coffee-inspired tone replaces classic indigo, achieved through weaving rather than dyeing. This process allows white threads to surface over time. Aged gold trims and VVN leather details finish the pieces, connecting denim to Louis Vuitton’s bag-making codes.
Accessories push softness further. Speedy P9 bags and LV BUTTERSOFT sneakers arrive in the lightest leathers and textiles. Pastel ostrich, printed scarves, and tree-of-life weaves give the pieces movement and ease. The Nil M bag debuts in silk-touch ostrich, while crocodile appears in deep blue and green across trunks and shoppers, many adorned with semi-precious stones or finished with woven textures.
Jewellery and footwear follow suit. Shoes carry age in their design, lace-ups with no defined left or right, flip-flops exaggerated in shape, and hiking boots that feature The Darjeeling Limited print. Jewellery includes sterling silver and gold-toned bangles, ankle chains, and filigree-treated pieces embedded with stones.
Hats appear worn. Socks sparkle with crystal and lace. Neckties call back to cricket. Belts feature frog buckles, while chain versions carry stones that feel lifted from markets or temples. Every item plays with contrast and condition, not polish.
The soundtrack matches the scale. Pharrell Williams composes and produces a full lineup for the show, working with Voices of Fire and l’Orchestre du Pont Neuf. The music includes “Miracle Worker,” co-produced by Bishop Ezekiel Williams and J. Drew Sheard and co-written by The-Dream. “Yaara Punjabi” brings in A. R. Rahman, and Clipse follows with “So Be It Pt. II.” Doechii and Tyler, the Creator close the set with “Get Right.”
