It’s the year 2004 and I am wearing a navy blue and white Baby Phat dress with a white t-shirt underneath and white Air Force ones. I feel like I am shining, completely unconscious to name brands at my young age, I still have an instinctive feeling of being luxurious.

I always liked to dress, skipping to the first day of kindergarten in my cow print skirt, cow print vest, and a white turtleneck underneath. I stayed up all night looking at that outfit. Now it is the year 2008, I am watching Pharrell’s ‘Frontin’ music video that was released in 2003 while I was still listening to Radio Disney. I wanted to dress like him, moving away from my girly skirts and taking an interest in ‘boy clothes’.This leads me to my favorite look of the evening, which happens to be dressed on the only woman I remember seeing in what is obviously a part of a men’s collection. Model Anok Yai is dressed in a dark denim pants and jacket suit, embroidered with large LV logos that shimmer and small Black faces on the jacket. The jacket hangs low, perfectly cut for the model’s proportions. The buttons on the jacket shine gold and her accessories are simplified to perfection to not take away from the look, but also not clash with it. The pants are wide legged and baggy fitted. She is holding a small chocolate LV bag also included in the recent collection. Anok has on white shoes and her Afro is perfectly textured and rounded. I began to see myself wearing this entire look, and that is when it hit me that Pharrell Williams was my introduction to LV as a person a part of Generation Z. It was a sight to see. At first glance, I thought to myself, “I would wear this!”, and so would 2004 me if she fully embraced her identity, feeling a nostalgic ode to my younger self.

Observing this show as a manifestation of a child’s dreams allowed me to see it as more than just materials and garments, but a pathway to understanding one’s attraction to what they are magnetized to. To look back from a conscious place of how long you knew what you liked before you could articulate it. What’s interesting about this show is Pharrell’s lack of high fashion background professionally, but staple in society through his particular aesthetic that has consistently been proven to be innovative and his involvement in streetwear. The designs are like sculptures, masterpieces one might even say. I knew that something special was happening during the sum of 24 minutes of the show when I felt an internal connection to what I was seeing. I look at a lot of fashion houses during their seasonal releases, and this just felt different. I knew immediately what Pharrell was doing, because he’s always done this: include you. Many people hated the show for the very reason I adored it, his eye for street fashion was heavily influenced in this season. Although I am sure the value is the same, these were clothes that people like me would wear and not just look at in fantasy or thought. Many went on to critique the show for lack of imagination and creativity, but I think that simplifying the looks was genius. As someone who takes a critical look at fashion, I found it refreshing to just see good outfits. On the contrary, I did not enjoy everything. There were times I felt like things were a bit silly, but I respect that he put his vision before the general perception of what LV designs should look like and who is supposed to consume it. Critics said he lacked audacity, but I perceive it as the very opposite. It is easy for the gatekeepers to compare Pharrell to other designers of the past, but he knows what the people of society really want, not just those that have a stronghold on feeling exclusive and superior.

8 year old me growing up in the small confines of my neighborhood smiles in the depths of my mind seeing that your idea of creativity can take you to the oldest bridge in Paris without even having institutional background in what manifests in your reality.