Up Close With the Louis Vuitton ButterSoft Sneaker
On Wednesday, on the grounds of the Louvre Museum, Paris (just to be clear, as there are two others: one in Lens [also France], one in Abu Dhabi), Pharrell debuted his autumn/winter 2025 men's collection for Louis Vuitton.
It's been designed with a guest creative director: his BFFFL (best fashion friend for life), Nigo.
(Not to sound like Troy McClure but you may remember this pairing from Billionaire Boys Club and ICECREAM, two brands the streetwear enthusiasts founded in the early noughties.)
Naturally, the collection is big on sneakers. Big on big sneakers, actually – puffy and/or wide.
The standout sneak of autumn/winter 2025 is the LV ButterSoft, a Seventies-inspired silhouette with puffed-up features. The cartoonish look, as well as being on trend, also aligns with Pharrell and Nigo’s childlike aura (for Williams, that's best captured by his recent Lego-based biopic, while Nigo's playful approach manifests in his Human Made label, which is fronted by several animated mascots).
Tapping into their shared playfulness has allowed Pharrell and Nigo to elevate the form – a silhouette popular in the seventies – in fun ways. You needn’t look further than the array of colourways — previewed on Pharrell’s secondary Insta account, @skateboard earlier this month – to see that.
But do look closer to see the ButterSoft’s greatest detail: a Pharrell logo on the tongue. It’s a cutesy illustration that honours the musician-cum-creative director and differentiates the shoe from the pack.
The Louis Vuitton autumn/winter 2025 men’s collection by Pharrell and Nigo, including the ButterSoft trainer, will release later this year.
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