Pharrell Williams didn’t just reference India at Paris Fashion Week. He built a show around it. For Louis Vuitton’s Spring/Summer 2026 menswear outing, the Pompidou Centre forecourt became a surreal Indian playground. A giant snakes and ladders board covered the runway, designed by Mumbai-based architect Bijoy Jain, known for his meditative, material-first approach. The scenography was bold and playful, hinting at the chaotic ups and downs of fashion, and doubling as a quiet nod to an ancient Indian board game once used for teaching morality.
But it was more than just clever set design. Pharrell’s collection leaned fully into Indian visual language. Cricket whites were transformed into relaxed suiting. Monk-pleated trousers walked alongside jewelled cricket jerseys. Jackets and puffer vests came dressed in mirrorwork, zardozi, and prints that echoed everything from temple murals to truck art. LV trunks and bags bore hand-drawn elephants and folk-style flourishes, blending luxury leatherwork with subcontinental iconography.
The music, too, was more than backdrop. Pharrell teamed up with A. R. Rahman for a soundtrack that merged gospel vocals with Indian classical instrumentation. The result was a soaring, textured score that grounded the show in rhythm and reverence. It set the tone for a collection that was exuberant but intentional, extravagant yet rooted.
And India wasn’t just on the runway. It was in the front row. Actor Ishaan Khatter arrived in head-to-toe custom LV. A. R. Rahman watched the show he helped score.
What could have felt like appropriation was anything but. Pharrell had visited India earlier this year, taking in crafts, textiles and street culture firsthand. The resulting collection read like someone who had done the work, dug into the details, and collaborated where it mattered.
With stars in the seats, craft in the clothes and India in the very structure of the show, Pharrell reminded everyone that fashion does not live in a vacuum. It thrives when it listens. This season, it listened to India. And it looked spectacular doing it.
