But, notably, not by Nicolas Ghesquière

Is Louis Vuitton’s creative designer for menswear overshadowing his womenswear counterpart? It seems so. WWD just reported that for the Detroit stop of Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour, her costumes—“custom looks”—would be created by Pharrell Williams. The news site also stated that the appointment marks “his first major celebrity dressing moment since taking over as creative director of menswear”. Was Rihanna in the Louis Vuitton advertising campaign not the first? According to a statement released by LV, Mr Williams has also “created a series of custom Damier looks with crystal details for Blue Ivy (who has been performing with her mother) and the dancers”. As the Hokkiens would say, bao ga liao (to take charge of everything).

What happened to Nicolas Ghesquière, a man of many gifts and a distinctive voice? It isn’t clear why LV’s new menswear creative director is preferred to the label’s established womenswear designer. To be certain, the sketch does not offer much, but shorts and cropped halter top for stage? It is also not known who picked whom. Beyoncé did attend Mr Williams’s debut show in Paris last month. Did an arrangement come out of that? It is not immoderate to assume that the singer prefers someone fresh, someone she knows personally (a brother), whose work is the most-hyped today than a man who has been with LV for close to an impressive 10 years. But what does this say about the hierarchy of creativity and power at LV? Will Mr Ghesquière be forging ahead in the shadow of his new colleague? Is he eclipsed? Are we reading too much into this? At this point, we don’t know. Perhaps Paris Fashion Week in September may reveal something?

Sketch (top): Louis Vuitton