Going into the Louis Vuitton Spring/Summer 2027, all everyone could talk about were Pharrell's LV "Vans" skate shoes, which strikes me as odd. Like, this wasn't the first time that a luxury label dropped a Vans-like sneaker — hell, it wasn't even the first time this month. And yet, Pharrell's Louis Vans-tton shoes captured the zeitgeist. They transcended typical luxury discourse to become a cultural talking point so vital that Vans itself weighed in (on the Highsnobiety Instagram post, mind you) before issuing a cheeky retort.

For anyone wondering why Pharrell is still working for Louis Vuitton, let this provide an answer.

Pharrell, is not a designer by trade. Instead, he dictates culture. To paraphrase Blades of Glory, no one knows quite what that means, but it's provocative. And provoke he does, with his Louis Vuitton Timbs and his million-dollar handbags. In the attention economy, you have to not only cook up product like this but get people to talk about it, which Pharrell capably achieves.

But for Louis Vuitton's SS27 menswear collection, he did something even more surprising: He spearheaded an incredibly good collection.

Not that Pharrell's previous collections were lacking, mind you, but this latest offering is his best, by far.

As models strolled out from a tremendous faux barrel wave intended to evoke surfers' high — the entire collection was an homage to surf culture, as the show notes made clear, but also to skateboarding, "a formative and enduring influence" on Pharrell — they displayed impressively good clothes.

Bomber jackets whose knitted hems were woven with so many beads; coats and denim jeans dyed in a manner that evoked shibori indigo; sunfaded hoodies that looked like they'd been straight from a surfer's closet, save for the gilded LV-tipped drawstrings; pre-mended outerwear indicative of well-worn wetsuits. It was a far-reaching affair united by its admirable wearability.

In fact, the best looks were the ones that only barely called to the surfer theme. One of the best looks was astoundingly simple: Superflat skate shoes worn with LV monogram-embellished jeans (pre-faded, of course), a canvas belt, knitted grey sweater, and a striped shirt poking out insouciantly.

No-brainer stuff, made better by a distinct point of view that gave it all purpose beyond merely elevating basics.

Really, that's what the SS27 did best. Eschewing gimmicks, it got back to the bare bones of great clothes. Yeah, Pharrell indulged in his preferred exotic leather track jackets but he also bequeathed perfect bombers and flawless boucle overcoats that reconsidered the drug rug as a work of art.

This was Pharrell riding a wave, channeling one great idea into one great collection. Louis Vuitton Vans, who?

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