PARIS – Louis Vuitton will unveil its new menswear direction under creative director Pharrell Williams sooner than expected.
The U.S. musician’s debut show will take place at 8.30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 20, the opening day of Paris Men’s Fashion Week, according to the provisional calendar published by the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, French fashion’s governing body. Vuitton typically shows on the Thursday of the men’s calendar.
The eagerly awaited event is expected to be a highlight of the menswear showcase, scheduled to run from June 20 to June 25. This season will feature 43 shows and 38 presentations, versus 39 shows and 37 presentations at the same time last year.
Among the newcomers on the official calendar of runway shows is Burç Akyol, one of the nine finalists for the LVMH Prize for Young Designers. Akyol founded his unisex label in 2019 after stints at Christian Dior, Balenciaga and Esteban Cortázar.
The winner of the LVMH award, which marks its 10th anniversary this year, will be announced on June 7.
New on the presentations calendar are 4SDesigns, the label founded by New York-based designer Angelo Urrutía, one of the finalists for the 2023 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, and Lagos Space Programme, the brand from Nigerian designer Adeju Thompson, which just won the International Woolmark Prize.
They will be joined by Japanese designer Shinpei Yamagishi’s label Bed J.W. Ford, which has previously been a guest at the Pitti Uomo trade show in Florence, and C.R.E.O.L.E., the gender-fluid French brand founded by designer Vincent Frédéric Colombo, known for his club night La Creole.
With Rick Owens at 12.30 p.m. on June 22, Givenchy at 2.30 p.m. the same day, Dior at 2.30 p.m. on June 23, Loewe at midday on June 24 followed by Hermès at 3 p.m., the week will have its fair share of tentpole brands.
Also present on the official runway schedule are Wales Bonner, Amiri, Dries Van Noten, Ami Alexandre Mattiussi, Junya Watanabe, Paul Smith, Comme des Garçons, Kenzo, KidSuper, Marine Serre, Sacai and Ludovic de Saint Sernin, among others.
Rhude will be back after sitting out last season, following the news of creative director Rhuigi Villaseñor’s departure from Bally, where he did double duty.
Among those sitting out this season are Saint Laurent, which plans to show its men’s collection in Berlin on June 12, and Celine. Its creative director Hedi Slimane staged his last men’s show on Feb. 10, well after his peers, and the house has not announced its plans for the spring 2024 collection.