At least it will be tonight. 

By the time many of you read this, because I’m writing to you from the future, what I’m about to tell you will have already happened. Even though, by your actual time, it won’t have actually happened yet. This is the mindf-ck of time differences. 

 

The time I’m referring to will be 8pm in Hong Kong, at Avenue of Stars along Victoria Harbourfront in Tsim Sha Tsui (locally referred to as “TST”), where Pharrell will show his first pre-Fall collection as menswear creative director for Louis Vuitton. This is a very big deal – for the brand to choose this location for the presentation, and I don’t have to tell you what a heatscore Pharrell is right now after the debut of his first collection in Paris back in June. But I’ve been writing for probably three or four years now about the Asian luxury market, and how significant it has become to the fashion houses, so the fact that LV is basing a show this big here in Hong Kong means that fashion orbits are shifting. It’s not just Paris, London, Milan, and New York anymore. All fashion eyes are on Hong Kong at the moment, just as HK is making a resurgence post-COVID. 

 

So the rumours… they’ve been bouncing around for days. There’s been speculation about whether or not Beyoncé and Jay-Z will show up. Also Zendaya, who is an LV ambassador. Some people are saying that David Beckham has been seen in Wan Chai. I’m staying in Wan Chai, and for what it’s worth I have not seen David Beckham, lol. The latest rumour is that Megan Thee Stallion will be in HK for LV: 

 

As much as I love the Queen and the Stallion, though, the event tonight shouldn’t have to be validated by the presence of western superstars. There are superstars from the East who can bring just as much hype to this market. If Hyein from NewJeans shows up, for example, it’s going to be mayhem. It already looked like mayhem at the airport when Felix from Stray Kids arrived – listen: 

 

Sho Hirano is already here:

And this was the scene when Song Joongki landed in HK yesterday: 

 

Here’s Pharrell with Gong Jun yesterday: 

 

And LV’s other Chinese ambassador, Dylan Wang Hedi, was also greeted by a big crowd when he touched down in HK on Thursday morning. 

The people here care about names that are unknown to many people in the west – but these are the stars who matter to the audiences in this part of the world. And they’ll be seated along that runway tonight (which will have already happened when you read this) because their fanbases are who the brands are increasingly targeting.