It was a Louis Vuitton takeover last night here in Hong Kong as Pharrell presented his first pre-Fall menswear collection with a travel-themed collection, from Hong Kong to Hawaii. It was sailors and surfers and so many classic LV accessories and monograms reimagined and tweaked to the theme, with a distinctly Asian flair. As LVMH CEO Pietro Beccari explained, “We want to meet the local culture, to expose Louis Vuitton to local culture, and tonight we have the chance. We have a social role to give back the visibility to cities like Hong Kong, which they didn’t have in the last four years. The light is now.” 

 

And the light was on – in the form of drones that took shape towards the end of the show, first forming a junk boat, basically the signature symbol of Hong Kong, and then turning into the instantly identifiable LV monogram, before becoming Pharrell’s LV signature… LVers. You can see the drone show starting at around the 12-minute mark of the video below, or just watch the whole thing if you have time because it’s a visual delight, not just because of the clothes but because of the city. This is the famous Hong Kong skyline, majestic and vibrant. 

 

As for the fashion, it’s fitting, too, for the location because these are bold looks, not for conservative dressers, especially with all the shorts and socks combinations. But East Asians arguably don’t have the same hangups about playing with different lengths and fits and colours as their western counterparts, and we see this on the stage, with K-pop stars who wear a lot more makeup and experiment with more adventurous silhouettes. And that trickles down into general culture. 

 

Check out Song Joong-ki, beautifully dressed in all white…

South Korean actor Song Joong-ki attends Louis Vuitton Men's Pre-Fall 2024 fashion show on November 30, 2023 in Hong Kong, China

You think it’s a suit with a long jacket, but he’s actually wearing shorts, with socks, and black Mary Janes. 

Joong-ki isn’t even a pop star, he’s an actor. An acclaimed actor, too. Bradley Cooper wouldn’t be rocking out like this. 

 

Here’s Joong-ki taking a photo with perhaps the biggest celebrity in attendance last night – the legend himself, Chow Yun Fat. 

 

I wrote a couple months ago about Fat Gor’s steeze and he’s coming through again, alongside wife Jasmine Tan, also in all white, with the turtleneck, and the accessories, and the sneakers, and after all these years, this man is still the boss of all bosses. 

Chow Yun-fat and Jasmine Tan attend Louis Vuitton Men's Pre-Fall 2024 fashion show on November 30, 2023 in Hong Kong, China

My favourite fit of the night, however, was Aaron Kwok. Originally mislabelled as Andy Lau by the photo agency and the error has since been corrected, but this is the kind of sh-t that makes me crazy because Andy and Aaron are two of the four Heavenly Kings of Hong Kong, they’ve been famous for literally DECADES and it’s bullsh-t that they’re getting mixed up by western media. 

Aaron Kwok Fu-shing attends Louis Vuitton Men's Pre-Fall 2024 fashion show on November 30, 2023 in Hong Kong, China
 

Anyway, as you can see, it’s LV pattern on a mandarin collar suit, an excellent example of harmonious merging energies: LV’s signature with Chinese culture. Less excellent, however, might be Dylan Wang Hedi. 

Dylan is GORGEOUS, that face is stupidly beautiful. Like he looks like he just walked out of a manga. And his outfit is SO F-CKING GOOD, with the Minecraft pixels from Pharrell’s first collection and the button pearls and the mandarin vibe of the jacket over the shorts and the socks and shoes…

He’s one of the best models of this collection that the brand could possibly find. And, did I mention, he’s GORGEOUS. Look at this bone structure. 

He also has really great hair. Flip through the carousel to see what I mean.  

 

So the decision to go with the dreadlocks, a bad idea. Dylan is one of LV’s most popular Chinese ambassadors, and obviously his outfit would have been sent to him in advance and approved by the brand. So I’m curious whether or not they have approval over the rest of it, like his hair and all that. I mean, sure, there’s a chance that Pharrell and the LV team were like, yeah OK, do your dreadlocks. But there’s also a chance that they sent over the clothes but didn’t know he’d do that with the hair and… well…here we are. The appropriation and cultural sensitivity conversation goes both ways. And in this part of the world, we are definitely not there yet in comparison with the west on understanding about culturally respectful exchanges. 

PS: when I showed this to Maria, she wrote back, “Pharrell works with Justin Timberlake a lot, so I think he’s seen and heard it all.” LOOOLLLLL

Finally, Swae Lee and Rauw Alejandro were also front row in Hong Kong last night. 

Rauw was later seen connecting with Pharrell and Felix from Stray Kids at the party. A global pop music collision!