Pharrell Williams may be a multi Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter-producer, but his latest show is being panned as tone-deaf. Pharrell has been the men’s creative director for Louis Vuitton since 2023, and he just presented the brand’s 2027 spring-summer show at Paris Fashion Week. C’est bon, except as part of Pharrell’s vision, the catwalk was built outside Cité Universitaire, a dormitory with about 12,000 students in residence, and it featured a sand-covered runway set against an eight-meter-high waterfall backdrop. As we know, Paris, France, and Europe writ large are going through a massive heatwave (which apparently is America’s fault, she said sarcastically). Record-breaking temps are regularly hitting 40 degrees Celsius (about 104 Fahrenheit) in a country where only one in four households have air conditioning. Given the extreme circumstances, un énorme waterfall to show off some hot couture isn’t exactly the best look. Louis Vuitton’s parent company LVMH, Cité Universitaire, and Paris officials have been busy responding to criticism:
In response to the backlash, an LVMH spokesperson asserted no water was wasted. “The water used to create the wave comes entirely from Paris’ water supply, which was pumped to the site and then entirely redirected back into Paris’ sewer system via a closed-loop system,” the spokesperson told Reuters.
They added the sand would be repurposed for the Cité Universitaire’s beach-volleyball courts and by a recycling partner, with the event adapted to comply with heatwave regulations. Jerome Duplan, communications director for the Cité Universitaire, corroborated the closed-loop system.
While proponents argue staging runway shows in public buldings enhances Paris’ reputation as the global fashion capital, some ambitious industry projects have consistently met local resistance.
Melody Tonolli, Paris deputy mayor for student living conditions, commented on the latest display: “I understand the public’s reaction to poorly explained privatisations, with restrictions on access and, in the midst of a heatwave, a display that sends a very unfortunate message.”
LVMH stated the six-week installation was agreed in consultation with its host. The Cité Universitaire’s Duplan noted Louis Vuitton’s sponsorship helped fund the structure, as the complex faces financial pressures from declining public funding and rising costs.
I don’t care how far in advance these plans were made, someone from the PR department of one of these groups — LVMH, Cité Universitaire, the city of Paris, Pharrell’s team — should have intervened. Not to be all Kourtney Kardashian about it, but there’s people that are dying from the heat, only a quarter of Parisians are air conditioned, and the hospitals are so stressed there’s a temporary ban on public drinking. Mounting a waterfall to show off luxury clothing most of us will never be able to afford yet celebs who can are given for free, in the city of Paris itself, is a little too “Let them eat cake” to maison, oui? Not to mention the waterfall effect could easily have been a video projection. Plus, you know, the water and sand don’t make the clothes any better. The art should be in the clothing, not the fuss all around them. I know spectacle is a big part of fashion, but at the end of the day the clothes should be the biggest ooh-la-la moment. Though dieu bless the plucky LVMH spox who clapped back with, “But the sand is going back to volleyball courts!”
Why is Pharrell wearing a sweatshirt?? He’s making me hot just looking at him .
Because he has access to air conditioning, the heatwave does not affect him directly. Then also, students were denied access to the University Campus for several days. As a result, they were unable to use the university dining halls or the study spaces to prepare for their final examinations in July.
Maybe the AC was set too low for him 🤭
While the citizenry is literally dying of heat stroke. Rich.
To be clear, this isn’t in on Louis Vuitton. It’s on Pharrell and America.
Americans are climate change denier because even if there are Americans who care about planet earth and have been practicing conservation and the 3Rs: reduce, reuse, and recycle for decades, it’s still America’s fault. And as a poster on another thread puts it, it’s middle class Americans here who are guilty. Not billionaires and trillionaire with multiple citizenships.
So I’ve been duly schooled that Pharrell is an American, thus bad. It’s not Louis Vuitton’s nor France’s fault here. It’s America that did this and by doing so it’s forcing rampant consumerism on the world. No person in France or the rest of the world, certainly rich owner of Vuitton, Bernard Arnault, would have tolerate such waste and mindless consumption. Like the Chinese, no doubt billionaire Bernard Arnault is a great environmentalist that all Americans and the rest of the world should try to emulate.
As a Frenchwoman living in Paris, I’ve seen Fashion Week shows criticized before for being out of touch or for their environmental impact. However, the attacks have increasingly targeted LVMH and Bernard Arnault, as Arnault plays a growing role in the political and economic spheres—leveraging his media outlets to spotlight centrist policies that favor the wealthiest 1% (a group he belongs to) and to promote far-right politicians.
This tracks. Pharrell has been out of touch for years.
Wasting water at any given time should result in a backlash, but especially in summer.
It’s not like Paris hasn’t been hot before, so whoever came up with this particular idea is a bit delusional.
But hey, at least the sand gets re-purposed!
The rich have lost touch with reality/the importance of keeping up appearances and not being too over the top in their displays of wealth and privilege. Lort. No one involved really, really understands French history…. But. But. But. We inconvenienced students horribly during a historic heatwave that has caused at least 1400 deaths, but the water that didn’t evaporate went back to the sewer system and the sand will be used to benefit the students we treated terribly… The French are entering had enough territory and that didn’t end up so good for the ultra rich, out of touch snobs a few hundred years ago.
I have our chant when the revolution comes….
EAT THE RICH, PISS ON THEIR GRAVES, SHIT ON THEIR BONES.!
Kinda catchy, no?!
Pharrell has shown how tone deaf he is MULTIPLE times over the course of the last two years with some of the statements he’s made on various topics – so unfortunately this doesn’t surprise me in the least. He makes good music – but he is not a very bright or socially conscious person.
What’s tone deaf is tying water to a heat wave. If Paris was experiencing a drought I’d understand. But Everbody Needs To Complain.
Water helps cool people and keep them hydrated. Whether this particular water would be used for that purpose is irrelevant – the symbolism is important. This was an insensitive display of wealth, by wealth, for wealth.
And what is tone deaf could also be jumping to conclusions without considering the system at play, as Kaiser wrote, even public drinking has been temporarily stopped in Paris because of the environmental threats.
How many construction workers had to work in extreme heat to set up this ridiculous display? A lot of power was probably used for the construction or if they had an electric pump for the water, at a time when the electricity system would be under strain due to the heat. And, water evaporates in the heat so there would be a lot of water lost too presumably.
Am I missing something? Closed loop would be to recirculate the water not dump it down the sewers!
That didn’t make sense to me either. I hope the waterfall itself is a closed loop and the water circulates endlessly.
“Money changed everything.” Cindy Lauper song
Re: America’s fault for the heatwave I just caught up on yesterday’s article. To me one of the issues that only a few commenters talked about is that the catalyst was American tourists who had willfully chosen to visit France in the summer, complaining on social media about the heat and no A/C.
When I travel I go with the expectation that I’m going to have a different experience and that the country does things differently than where I live. Otherwise, I could just stay home.
There’s added dynamics in 2026 of course, like perhaps tend to your own country before having opinions about other countries and how they do things.
And probably one of the biggest impediments to addressing global climate change came from the US oil I industry: Exxon, Chevron and API American petroleum institute identifying global warming threats and then discrediting climate science.
As many commenters yesterday pointed out this does all come down to capitalism. And the current paradigm of shareholder primacy and trickle down economics was also developed in the US Friedman and Chicago school of economics, Reaganomics.
Should everyday Americans, who are also being oppressed by these systems in their current state be blamed for all of this? I do not think so at all.
I do think could be helpful for Americans to consider this external context though and how other countries are perceiving the United States differently. Especially since the USA has held itself up as superior for many years and many of our countries have taken “notes” from both your government and ordinary everyday Americans for many years.
All that to say the waterfall is visually spectacular and a horrifically wasteful and disruptive approach for one fashion show for clothes that only the 1%-2% can afford globally and will probably wear for only one season.
Agree that Americans could be more aware of how they are viewed from the outside. That they keep hopping on short-haul planes as if they were taking the bus, and going on cruises, says a lot.
Umm Ryan Air would like you to know it’s not a US company. And that Viking cruise is not American either. And Europeans love to holiday around the world. The Swedes love Koh Lanta to the point the locals call the island little Sweden. I know Europe hates American tourists but we try to welcome Europeans whether they are here for the World Cup or just visiting. I offered friends from Asia, Chile, and Europe our car, places to sleep, climbing and camping gear when they are visiting in the states. They in turn has offer us their camper van should we ever visit them in their country.
None of us are millionaire. We saved for years so we have the time and money to visit friends snd family across oceans. Some people will condemn us for flying and what not, but glass houses and all that.
If I look at people who have the most minimal carbon footprint, it’s the poorest in the world, the people that richer nations want to keep out, but happy to exploit for their cheap labor.
Paris has a smart, articulate deputy mayor who proclaimed America bears much of the responsibility for climate change and deaths during this heatwave. And she’s responding to news reports that quoted some American tourists and a few influencers complaining. So as a smart politician, she extrapolated those few to lump all 350 million+ Americans as guilty and here’s the kicker, news media has been playing this up for rage click bait. To the point that some posters here are blaming middle class Americans for climate change. (I have no idea why billionaires with their ginormous carbon footprint and more importantly has outsized control and access of governments are absolved of guilt. But there you have it, simplicity to a very complex problem.)
So you take news report that edit comments and a few quotes from a few American tourists, blow that up, add in deputy mayor who sees a great way to distract and direct blame toward the ugly Americans, add in folks who admire China for being a great environmentalist, and there’s the theater.
Nuance is dead. Complex problem is dead. Complex solution is dead. Understanding is dead.
Let’s just react and blame. That’ll solve everything.