The Speedy Louis Vuitton Redesigned by Pharrell Williams

If Pharrell Williams' first collection for Louis Vuitton , presented last June on the Pont-Neuf, has already caused a lot of ink to flow, its official arrival in stores risks breaking all audience records, according to the buzz around the brand new version of the legendary Speedy Bandoulière bag. It must be said that the new Men's Creative Director of Louis Vuitton hit hard, and not only with a million-Euro crocodile version called Millionaires Speedy 40 and frenetically publicised. By injecting a hefty dose of primary colour blocks (yellow, green, red and blue) into the grained calfskin model, the iconic and visionary Swiss army knife artist with multiple creative playgrounds immediately confirms that what he loves above all, it means freeing oneself from boundaries that are sometimes too academic in his eyes.

Interviewed last month for L'OFFICIEL during his second pre-fall 2024 fashion show in Hong Kong, Pharrell Williams took the time to justify this freedom: " When I arrived at Louis Vuitton, I understood that "We had to shake up the house, deconstruct its stereotypes, project it into the future. To do this, we worked on some of its cornerstones, like the Speedy bag . With one idea in mind: to take this icon to the next level." Born almost a century ago from the imagination of Gaston-Louis Vuitton, under the name Express (in reference to the automobile era), the Speedy as we know it today was released in 1959 — all of first in supple monogram canvas — and established itself since then as the brand's best-seller and iconic must-have, regularly reinterpreted by numerous artists in new collaborations.  

Once again, this new adaptation of the Speedy makes it unique, and adopting it means (as they say at Louis Vuitton ) living an experience of exceptional refinement. From the ultra-soft grained calfskin to which the workshops have added a “powdered” touch, to the polished gold metal pieces, including the Monogram imprint whose printing restores the handmade effect of the Sergé canvas, the interior plaque engraved with the season, size, and quote from Pharrell, the size of the handles proportional to that of the bag (25, 40 or 50cm), the removable interior pocket, the padlock, address tag and key ring bell, the customisation of the packaging to match the colour of the bag chosen by the customer... everything here confirms that this object of desire represents, like its predecessors, the obsession with detail and the artisanal heritage of the brand. From there, all temptations are permitted.