Fashion has been part of the entertainment industry for a long time now as the art of creation takes a back seat to the marketing and stunts required for global reach.

Brands attach their product to celebrities, musicians, influencers and exhibitionists to get the message out there, as the delicate thread to the actual design atelier gets less and less defined.

Newly appointed creative director of menswear for Louis Vuitton, music producer Pharrell Williams, staged his 23/24 show for this month, taking things to a whole new level.

This wasn’t a fashion show, this was a money-no-object extravaganza, a spectacle comparable to fiddling while Rome burns.

The beautiful Pont Neuf was closed down to stage the show, there were front row guest such as Rihanna, A$AP Rocky, Beyonce, Jay Z, Meghan Thee Stallion, Kelly Rowland, Tyler the Creator, Kim Kardashian and Zendaya, and an exuberant gospel choir called Voices of Fire, who apparently feature on Williams new single ‘Joy (Unspeakable)’.

The Voices of Fire is a gospel choir based out of Hampton Roads, Virginia, and led by Bishop Ezekiel Williams, who is Pharrell’s uncle.

How incredibly fortuitous all these things coincided!

Hymns and hers

Williams is a very stylish man who has a cool look and he has been involved with a fashion label called Billionaire Boys Club, but his impressive contacts were probably the big clincher for his signing with Vuitton rather than his prowess with a sewing machine.

This was at the same time a very wonderful and inventive UK designer, Christopher Kane, shuttered his business, finding it just too hard to compete.

This is not the first inclusion of gospel singing in a fashion show.

Kanye West featured his Sunday Service Choir at some of his past Yeezy fashion events.

As it turns out, West was subsequently sued for US$30 million in damages over labour practices, with lawsuits claiming that he mistreated workers at his Sunday Services.

Pharrell Williams’ previous foray into fashion was his Billionaire Boys Club. Photo: Getty

Presumably Bernard Arnault, owner of LVMH (which owns Louis Vuitton) and the second-richest man in the world, has the funds to cover expenses if the show sold as many handbags as anticipated.

One of the highlights of the night was not the clothes but a duet between Pharrell and Jay Z which seemed pretty low key, but maybe you had to be there.

So who is there?

Celebrities all in a row

Dior, also owned by LVMH, shows in Spain and Mexico and India over a period of months, and all the beautiful people and K-Pop stars and influencers are flown in from around the globe to create a luscious Instagram feed. Then it’s off to the next sparkly location.

The front row at Loewe (also LMVH) were the delightful actors and director from White Lotus, and stars from Succession who looked somewhat perplexed that they were there.

I have spoken to three fashion designers recently, in Australia and France, who have decided to do away with their runway shows completely.

“Most of it is about who is in the front row, and the other 40 per cent is taking up with invitees filming their own Instastories” commented one sadly.

“ I don’t think anybody is looking at the clothes.”