Pharrell Williams Kicks Off Paris Fashion Week with Louis Vuitton Show

A model presents a creation for the Spring/Summer 2025 Menswear Collection by the US designer Pharrell Williams for Louis Vuitton fashion house during the Paris Men's Fashion Week, in Paris, France, 18 June 2024. EPA/ANDRE PAIN
A model presents a creation for the Spring/Summer 2025 Menswear Collection by the US designer Pharrell Williams for Louis Vuitton fashion house during the Paris Men's Fashion Week, in Paris, France, 18 June 2024. EPA/ANDRE PAIN
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Pharrell Williams Kicks Off Paris Fashion Week with Louis Vuitton Show

A model presents a creation for the Spring/Summer 2025 Menswear Collection by the US designer Pharrell Williams for Louis Vuitton fashion house during the Paris Men's Fashion Week, in Paris, France, 18 June 2024. EPA/ANDRE PAIN
A model presents a creation for the Spring/Summer 2025 Menswear Collection by the US designer Pharrell Williams for Louis Vuitton fashion house during the Paris Men's Fashion Week, in Paris, France, 18 June 2024. EPA/ANDRE PAIN

Louis Vuitton men's creative director Pharrell Williams took to an outdoor, turf-lined runway at UNESCO headquarters on Tuesday, opening Paris Fashion week with an evening show.

The world's biggest fashion label, known for its checked damier patterns and monogrammed trunks, drew on a travel theme for the spring summer 2025 men's collection, with a towering globe sculpture, rows of international flags and -- in the distance -- the Eiffel Tower as a backdrop, Reuters reported.

Models strode down the grass catwalk in crisply-tailored suits, slick bomber jackets and fur coats, with rhinestone-encrusted sunglasses and chunky, airplane-wing brooches, while an orchestra and choir performed music produced by Williams.

The LVMH-owned label drew an audience of 1,500, as well as screaming crowds on the street outside, angling to catch arrivals of celebrity guests, who included NBA basketball player Victor Wembanyama, actor Michael Fassbender and K-pop star Jackson Wang.

The Paris men's fashion shows, which will be followed by Haute Couture week, come as France gears up for the summer Olympics, as well as two rounds of elections in the coming weeks, which have thrown the country into political disarray.

Globally, high end labels face waning appetite for fashion and accessories, with the key Chinese market a particular source of concern.



Bangladesh Garment Industry Short on Cotton as Floods Worsen Protest Backlog

FILE PHOTO: Women work in a garment factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, May 3, 2020. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Women work in a garment factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, May 3, 2020. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain/File Photo
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Bangladesh Garment Industry Short on Cotton as Floods Worsen Protest Backlog

FILE PHOTO: Women work in a garment factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, May 3, 2020. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Women work in a garment factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, May 3, 2020. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain/File Photo

Garment factories in Bangladesh, one of the world's biggest clothing production hubs, are struggling to complete orders on time as flooding disrupts their cotton supplies - exacerbating a backlog caused by recent political turmoil.
Bangladesh is a leading global cotton importer due to the size of its textile and garment industry, but the devastating floods mean few trucks and trains have been able to bring supplies to factories from Chittagong port over the last week, industry officials and analysts said.
The disruption, on top of the unrest and protests that led to factory closures earlier this month, have caused garment production to fall by 50%, said Mohammad Hatem, president of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association.
"The industry is now under immense pressure to meet deadlines, and without a swift resolution, the supply chain could deteriorate even further," Reuters quoted Hatem as saying.
Bangladesh was ranked as the third-largest exporter of clothing in the world last year, after China and the European Union, according to the World Trade Organization, exporting $38.4 billion worth of clothes in 2023.
At the clothing factory she runs in the capital, Dhaka, Rubana Huq is counting the cost of lost production.
"Even for a moderate-sized company like ours, which makes 50,000 shirts a day and if the price of one single shirt is $5, there was $250,000 of production loss," said Huq, a former president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA).
She said some garment plants were slowing resuming production, but estimated that complete recovery "would be at least six months away", warning that Bangladeshi manufacturers could lose 10%-15% of business to other countries.
Bangladesh's readymade garments industry, which supplies many of the world's best-known fashion brands, accounts for more than 80% of the country's total export earnings.
Buyers are adopting a cautious approach and could potentially delay new orders, said Shahidullah Azim, a director of the BGMEA industry group.
"The longer this uncertainty persists, the more challenging it becomes for us to maintain the momentum we have built," he told Reuters.
The Bangladesh Meteorological Department said flood conditions could persist if the monsoon rains continued, as water levels were receding very slowly.
Some cotton shipments could get diverted to India, Pakistan and Vietnam, commodity analysts said.
"We are already hearing and seeing some cotton for prompt delivery wanted by Pakistan and Vietnam," said Louis Barbera, partner and analyst at VLM Commodities based in New Jersey.
New orders shifted from Bangladesh could also be accommodated in southern India, said Atul Ganatra, president of the Cotton Association of India.
Even before the floods and political unrest, the Bangladeshi garment industry was grappling with power shortages that remain a problem, said Fazlee Shamim Ehsan, vice president at the country's knitwear manufacturers and exporters association.
"Energy shortages continue to hamper our operations," he said.