Pharrell supercharges Vuitton with mega-budget spectacular

Pharrell rocks Paris

- Ben Cobb in Paris

EVER wondered what it looks like when the world’s first $20 billion (£15.7 billion) luxury company decides to flex? Pharrell Williams did and last night on Paris’s Pont Neuf he found out. After a week of teasing behind the-scenes clips and a billboard campaign starring Rihanna and a coffee, he staged his debut runway show as Louis Vuitton’s new men’s creative director. It was, needless to say, a mega-budget spectacle.

We will get on to the clothes but first, a quick rewind. When news broke in February that the 50-year-old rapper/ producer/entrepreneur had bagged menswear’s top job, there was excitement but also cynicism — namely from the old guard. “What does Pharrell know about design?” scoffed the doubters.