What’s red and white and seen all over? Louis Vuitton’s extremely familiar new shoe. Ahead of its upcoming Spring/Summer 2027 show, artistic director Pharrell Williams stepped fully into the online discourse cycle with a sneak peek at the Combi, a skate sneaker that bravely answers the question: What would a Louis Vuitton Vans look like? Which is really like asking, what would a Vans Authentic look like if it was remade in crocodile skin and tacked on a heel tab in Vachetta leather? 

The similarities between LV’s new shoe and the classic Vans skate sneaker caught the attention of the legacy skatewear brand within hours of the Combi's appearance online.

After dropping into the Highsnobiety Instagram comments section with “ohhh bet,” Vans dropped a post featuring its OG Authentic with the caption, “Wanna know the time. Better clock us” — a choice lyric from “Mr. Me Too,” a 2006 Clipse track featuring none other than Mr. Williams himself. 

We’ll let you read up on the rest of the lyrics, but the following line is about “[biting] the style from the shoes to the watches.”As one commenter aptly put it: “We got Vans trolling Pharrell before GTA6.” But don’t count Williams out so quickly: in many countries, the “Combi” is a minibus, or, you know, a van. 

As fun as it is to see two fashion brands try to out-troll each other (Williams' latest post on his Skateboard account is captioned "feeling the heat"), the reality is that this silhouette — the vulcanized midsole, thick laces, and canvas upper — has been fodder for far more fashion brands than just LV (and this isn’t even the first time Williams has looked to skate silhouettes for inspiration).

Phoebe Philo put out a $950 version recently, but we’ve also seen everyone from Prada and Dior to Bottega Veneta trot out their take on the classic skate silhouette, with Bottega’s Intrecciato-woven leather Sawyer shoe taking the crown as most obviously luxe.

A full range of Combi colorways is slowly dripping out ahead of Tuesday night’s LV show, including plain white and black versions, plus many monogrammed takes (and one with very on-trend shoe charms).

All we can say is… damn Pharrell, back at it again with the Louis Vans?

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