Tyler, the Creator x Louis Vuitton Isn’t Unexpected. But It’s Still Amazing. (2024)

Pharrell shows no signs of slowing down during his time at Louis Vuitton. Just a month after presenting an 80-look, Western-themed show in Paris, he has unveiled another collection. This time, he’s tapped one of the most creative minds in music, Tyler, the Creator, to bring his version of Louis Vuitton to life.

“I am this man’s hitman. Whatever he needs. Y’all dont understand what this man means to me. He continues to open doors and throws me the keys,” Tyler wrote on Instagram while unveiling his collection.

With the collection, Tyler fused Louis Vuitton codes with signature elements like pastels, world travel, and whimsical details, from his Le Fleur line. And we don’t even have to wait that long to get our hands on it. It hits stores on March 21.

The move for Pharrell to recruit Tyler for this opportunity isn’t the most shocking thing. For one, Tyler has never been shy about the massive influence that Pharrell has had on him, from his obsession with N.E.R.D. to his penchant for flashy jewelry. The Call Me If You Get Lost artist has also been connected with Louis Vuitton before. He scored its Fall/Winter 2022 show, the last under the creative direction of Virgil Abloh, and pedaled a bike down the runway to close the show. If you made a short list of Pharrell’s potential collaborators when news broke about his appointment at Louis Vuitton Men’s, Tyler would have been on it.

While the first images of Tyler, the Creator x Louis Vuitton are still fresh in our mind, we wanted to give some of our first reactions.

It’s About Time

Tyler, the Creator and Pharell linking up for a fashion collaboration makes so much sense that you begin to wonder if it would actually ever come to fruition. The two have worked together on music multiple times, most recently on “Cash in Cash Out” in 2023 and most successfully on the Igor standout “Are We Still Friends?” And while the music is great, we’ve really just been patiently waiting for some clothing. Finally, it will arrive on probably the biggest platform possible through Louis Vuitton.

Tyler, the Creator has been very open about the massive impact Pharrell has had on him. His entire Call Me If You Get Lost era essentially felt like an homage to 2000s Pharrell, from the DJ Drama ad libs on the album to the colorful custom chains that he wore.

For all of that to culminate in Tyler working with a man who he clearly holds in such high regard on a collection for Louis Vuitton just feels too perfect.

This Is The Perfect Next Step for Tyler, the Creator in the Fashion World

Fashion has been a part of Tyler, the Creator’s brand since day one. Along with the Odd Future crew, he introduced a whole generation of young kids to Supreme and had them lusting over the Box Logo hoodies and camp caps he wore. You’ll still see some of his fans rocking striped T-shirts, flame print button-ups, and Chuck Taylors he helped popularize even though Tyler has moved on from that style era.

As Tyler’s personal style matured, so did his endeavors in the fashion world. While Golf Wang still offers up the same bold prints and colorful streetwear items that many of his fans expect, there is also his more refined Le Fleur label. When looking at some of its recent offerings, it almost feels like it was Tyler doing his best Louis Vuitton impression. Silk scarves are covered in fun prints. He worked with Globe-Trotter to create leather luggage that perfectly fit in with the theme of opulent world travel that informed Call Me If You Get Lost’s visuals (come on, I can’t be the only one who thought of LV trunks when I saw them). He collaborated with Lacoste to create incredible knits with pearl buttons (sound familiar?) and Schott to create oily leather jackets. It isn’t too far removed from what we see from his Louis Vuitton collab. One of the flight jackets with a monogram fur collar is just an LV-ified version of this Bronco jacket. This feels like what Tyler has been trying to create all along. He just finally had the means to do it at the highest level. The result is exactly what Tyler does best, something youthful that still feels incredibly timeless.

Give Us All of the “Craggy Monogram” Pieces

Everyone still remembers Takashi Murakami’s rainbow monogram or Stephen Sprouse’s colorful handstyle scrawled across Speedy bags from the 2000s. Pharrell created “Damoflage” to mark the start of his LV era. Now we can add Tyler, the Creator’s “Craggy Monogram” to the list of memorable reinterpretations of LV’s iconic print. Hand-drawn by Tyler, the print features chocolate brown LV logos and vanilla flowers with a variety of colorful flowers mixed in that provide the perfect dose of color. While some people tend to critique Tyler’s Le Fleur and Golf Wang offerings for being a bit too vibrant, this stuff still feels incredibly tasteful and wearable. Of course, the Speedy bags and petite coin pouches are amazing. The gigantic Courrier Lozine 110 trunk that will cost around $73,000 is something we can only dream of maybe getting to see in a museum one day. But that cream windbreaker, we want that in our closet immediately. And put it right next to the brown puffer jacket. Short suits aren’t really our thing, but we can’t forget about the brown ensemble that features its own unique monogram print consisting of pastries and Airedale Terrier heads.

We aren’t here to tell you what to do with your money, especially when this stuff will cost thousands of dollars, but we think these pieces are going to be legitimate collector’s items that people will try to track down in a few years. If I win the lottery, I won’t tell anybody, but there will be signs. I’ll be decked out in “Craggy Monogram.”

Is It Too Much Too Quickly?

As sensible and well done as this collaboration is, I couldn’t help but think, “Damn, another Louis Vuitton collection?” This is the fourth collection under Pharrell’s creative direction in a year (two runway shows in Paris, a Pre-Fall show in Hong Kong, and this collaborative capsule with Tyler). The last one just debuted in Paris almost one month ago to the day. And Pharrell’s debut collection didn’t actually hit stores until January 2024. I still feel like I’ve barely digested Pharrell’s Wild West offerings and there’s already something else. That seems like an even bigger problem when this collaborative capsule might actually be better and more memorable than the Fall/Winter 2024 season was (just one writer’s opinion). Also I just can’t help but feel a bit bummed out that the world was introduced to such a monumental collaboration by seeing it dumped onto our social media feeds in the early hours of a random Wednesday in February. Imagine if we all saw this debut on the runway in Paris? That would be a major moment and something like this feels worthy of that.

On the other hand, Pharrell is clearly hitting the ground running and making the most of his time with Louis Vuitton. That’s great. But it almost feels like he’s just tossing all of his ideas into the world as soon as possible because he doesn’t know how much time he will actually have at Louis Vuitton to keep doing this. I’m just starting to wonder if it’s too much too quickly.

Who’s Next?

Rihanna. LeBron James. Victor Wembanyama. Tyler, the Creator. Who the hell is Pharrell going to bring on board next? Much like Abloh did before him, it’s been amazing to see Pharrell use his powerful position to spotlight iconic Black figures that the luxury world typically did not for so long. In doing so, he’s also painting a more realistic picture of the modern luxury consumer and keeping LV relevant. Sure, LV is always going to sell brown monogram bags and trunks. They’re an aspirational brand for plenty of people with or without these types of moments. But without them, they’re also pretty boring. What Pharrell has brought to Louis Vuitton is that excitement that’s worthy of stopping what you’re doing and paying attention to each and every time. That matters and makes us eager to see what’s next. Will we finally see him link up with his good pal NIGO for a proper LV collaboration? Will Jacob the Jeweler design a jewelry collection? Will Jay-Z and Beyonce appear in the next campaign? Will he start an LV skate team with Tyshawn Jones and company? Whatever his next move is, I know it will make an impact.