Surf’s up! The story behind Pharrell Williams’ tidal wave set for Louis Vuitton
The design was the backdrop for the S/S 2027 collection, which was inspired by international surfing communities
Louis Vuitton men’s creative director and polymath Pharrell Williams presented the brand’s S/S 2027 collection yesterday evening (23 June 2026), against scenography also designed by himself. The enormous construction – which stood at eight-metres high and over 37-metres wide – was conceived to look like a tidal wave, and featured real water provided by the Eau de Paris corporation, which manages the city’s aquatic network. Following the show, the water will be discharged into Paris’s famous sewer-system, in a closed circuit. Cascading into pools of water evocative of a beach, it gently misted guests who watched on in the still warm evening sunshine.
Pharrell Williams continues his run of bold sets for Louis Vuitton, with a larger-than-life tidal wave
Inspired by the international surfing community, the entrance was marked by a Louis Vuitton camper van
The set concept echoed a collection inspired by international surfing communities, and, fittingly, stood in the open air under blue skies. The ground at Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris had been covered with fine sand for the occasion, and will later be repurposed for ‘beach’ volleyball on the campus, and was bisected by a boardwalk-style runway.
Ideas of renewal and regeneration extend beyond the perimeters of the show and its materials, with Louis Vuitton pledging support to Coral Gardeners as part of its sustainability roadmap, to further reef restoration efforts in French Polynesia – not only an important environmental campaign but one which will directly benefit communities who live and work in the South Pacific. World Surf League athletes will take part in monitoring the restoration efforts during the Tahiti Pro competition this August, giving the brand a vital opportunity to hear direct feedback on the project from those the most emotionally connected to it.
Louis Vuitton S/S 2027 Set
The wooden seating was reused from last season’s show, which took place around an architectural ‘hotel’ designed in collaboration with Tokyo-based Not a Hotel, set within the parkland of the Bois de Boulogne and named ‘Drophaus’ for the structure’s affinity with a droplet of water. Audacious set design has become a Williams signature during his tenure at the house, with the S/S 2026 edition even becoming the subject of a documentary, which charted his process of research in India all the way to the execution of a supersized version of Snakes and Ladders co-created by Bijoy Jain of Studio Mumbai, at the Centre Pompidou.
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India is a writer and editor based in London. Specialising in the worlds of photography, fashion, and art, India is features editor at contemporary art and fashion bi-annual Middle Plane, and has also held the position of digital editor for Darklight, a new-gen commercial photography platform. Her interests include surrealism and twentieth century avant-garde movements, the intersection of visual culture and left-wing politics, and living the life of an eccentric Hampstead pensioner.