After bidding farewell to Hong Kong, Pharrell Williams, the newly anointed Louis Vuitton menswear creative director, embarked on a whirlwind trip to Chengdu, Shanghai and Beijing.
Williams’ look for the three-day trip included a leather souvenir jacket adorned with handwoven dragon embroideries and marked with the four destinations of his China tour. He paired it with his signature Tiffany & Co. bedazzled sunglasses, baseball caps and the “Millionaire Speedy” bag.
The leather jacket, made with 1,310 pieces of pearl, can be pre-ordered at around 132,000 renminbi, or $18,600, according to posts shared by sales associates on Xiaohongshu.
Fans ardently documented Williams’ trip on Xiaohongshu, shouting out his Chinese nickname “Fei Dong,” or “Boss P,” to which Pharrell courteously responded with his signature praying gesture.
On Sunday, Williams visited Taikoo Li Chengdu’s Louis Vuitton Maison, the third for the luxury house in China, then the adjacent The Hall, Louis Vuitton’s first restaurant in China, where he posed for photos with a few lucky VIP fans and met with members of the local creative community.
The next day, Pharrell landed in Shanghai and visited Louis Vuitton’s latest retail outpost in the city, the Qiantan Taikoo Li Louis Vuitton flagship that spans over 1,200 square meters. At night, Williams showed up at Zhangyuan‘s Louis Vuitton space, a historical building turned luxury landmark.
At Zhangyuan, Williams took his time to catch up with the local fashion community and talked to a few top clients while sipping sake.
“He was so hyped to be in China and see what is happening and meet the people,” said Stephen Khou, skater and cofounder of streetwear brand Avenue & Son. “It was cool, mellow.”
“We connected over the art scene and he mentioned Guo Qingxiang, a big Chinese art collector that he met with Takashi Murakami,” said Leaf Greener, the editor turned fashion consultant.
“I played him one of his old songs and told him that I’m into Bape all because of him,” said Vanessa Huang, a star-struck VIP client and owner of the streetwear brand Garments.
After Shanghai, Williams capped off his China tour with store visits and impromptu client meet-ups in Beijing on Tuesday.
Running in parallel to Williams’ China tour, pop-up showrooms were created for VIP clients to pre-order from Vuitton’s spring 2024 collection, which will land in stores on Jan. 1.
Williams’ whirlwind China tour is not only a friendly gesture to his fans and clients in China, but also proves that he is willing to go the extra mile to fan business amid uncertain macro environments, like many of his peers did back in October.
According to the Altagamma-Bain & Company Worldwide Luxury Market Monitor 2023, the luxury market is expected to record 4 percent growth in 2023 to reach an estimated 362 billion euros.
The report suggests “a softening personal luxury goods performance in 2024, achieving low-to-mid single digit growth over 2023.”
For its third-quarter report, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton also took a cautious stance on luxury futures. “Time will tell, depending on the depth and the length of the cycle, whether it was a real cycle in consumption or merely a sort of blip after three extraordinary years,” said chief financial officer Jean-Jacques Guiony during the earnings call.
