India takes center stage at Pharrell's Louis Vuitton’s SS26 show with Bijoy Jain and A R Rahman

There are runway moments that celebrate craft, and then there are those that centre it. At Louis Vuitton’s SS26 menswear show outside Paris’s Centre Pompidou, India came through in the details—in the architecture, the soundtrack, the surface work, and the sensibility. Pharrell Williams, now two seasons into his tenure as men’s creative director, transformed the city’s oldest bridge into a sprawling Snakes & Ladders board—an installation brought to life by Mumbai-based architect Bijoy Jain. It was both sculptural and symbolic. 

The Louis Vuitton team took a stroll down the streets in New Delhi, Mumbai, and Jodhpur, observing not just how things look, but how they’re made and why it matters. That research surfaced in the details: crystal-studded trunks, palm and elephant motifs, and a live score co-composed with A R Rahman.

If global luxury is seeking its next chapter, this show offered a compelling draft with India on the masthead.

Bijoy Jain’s “Snakes & Ladders” Set: India in Stone

Pharrell partnered with Mumbai-based architect Bijoy Jain (Studio Mumbai) to design the set. The result: a life-sized reinterpretation of Snakes & Ladders. The floor beneath the models was pieced together using timber, local marble, and coloured stone—all set in a version of LV's Damier check, but softer, weathered, aged with story. Marble tiles, wooden inlays, and quiet geometry drew you in slowly, more like a memory unfolding. Somewhere between the structure and the silence, Indian craft held its ground.

Rahman‑Infused Rhythms and Sonic Storytelling

Titled Yaara Punjabi, the original score—composed by Pharrell in collaboration with A.R. Rahman—opened with near-spiritual restraint before unfolding into layered percussion, gospel voices, and ambient rhythm. Rahman’s touch was felt in every shift—the pacing, the emotional weight, the quiet complexity he’s known for. The music shaped how the clothes moved, how the space felt, and how the audience received every look. Instead of dictating the mood, the score invited you into it. Like the set, like the silhouettes, the soundtrack let India speak in its language—measured, emotive, and deeply rooted.

Crafting Identity: Trunks, Motifs & Textural Detail

The LV trunks were displayed mid-runway in vitrines, like museum pieces. Some were crystal-studded; others featured elephants and palm trees—symbols rich with cultural significance across South and Southeast Asia. The collection also nodded to The Darjeeling Limited, with cross-continental flora and fauna, crystals embedded into hoodies, and mini frogs perched on suits.

 

At a fashion week built on spectacle, Louis Vuitton SS26 stood out by holding back. No theatrics, no overstatement—just detail, depth, and a kind of precision that rewards close looking. India wasn’t treated as a theme or backdrop. Its architects, musicians, and visual language were part of the process from the start. The runway carried that energy quietly, through stone, stitching, and sound. It didn’t need to be loud to leave a mark, it already knew exactly where it stood.

 

Lead Image : Getty Images

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