NEED FOR SPEEDY: Louis Vuitton has released the complete Rihanna-fronted ad campaign to disclose the vision of Pharrell Williams, its latest men’s creative director.

The brand had teased the campaign last week with a large billboard on the side of the Musée d’Orsay, just ahead of Williams’ debut runway show in Paris, which Rihanna attended together with her musician husband A$AP Rocky.

Vuitton described the ad images as artifacts “created to change perceptions, challenge history, and evolve an existing legacy. Personified by a pregnant Rihanna – a logo of human empowerment and the quintessential on a regular basis icon – the boys’s campaign reflects the re-contextualization on the core of Pharrell Williams’ approach to the maison.”

While that sounds lofty, the campaign essentially puts Williams’ re-imagined Speedy bag front-and-center as Rihanna’s pregnancy bump.

In keeping with Vuitton, the classic Speedy was certainly one of the primary bags the “Completely satisfied” singer owned. The travel tote was created by Gaston-Louis Vuitton, grandson of the founder, in 1930.

Williams’ version is “informed by the cosmopolitan nucleus” that inspired his “early education in luxury: Canal Street on Lower Manhattan, Recent York City; a cultural axis invigorated by a various energy and hustle mentality echoed in corresponding streets across the metropolises of the world.”

“The brand new Speedy conjures through the inimitable savoir-faire of the maison a visible language evocative of the codes and stylistic attitude of Canal Street. It’s an on a regular basis icon conceived for each walk of life,” Vuitton added in a press release. (For years, Canal Street was synonymous with counterfeit luxury goods.)

The brand new Speedy kept its trapezoidal lines, but the luggage at the moment are expressed in supple grained calf leather. “The softened construction enables the underside of the bag to collapse and drape the best way it might through on a regular basis wear and gestures,” in response to Vuitton. “The silkscreen-printed Monogram induces a blurry, artisanal and almost hand-painted effect, rendered in several colours.”

Rihanna, the brand new Speedy and other Vuitton products by Williams were photographed by Keizō Kitajima and Martine Syms in a studio.

Cynthia Lu and Matthew Henson, each long-time collaborators of Williams, styled the spots, which can appear on all Vuitton’s digital channels.

Rihanna also appears in a brief video, lugging colourful handbags through town streets at dusk, also juggling a paper coffee cup.

Williams further promoted his version of the Speedy by dutifully toting the emblematic accessory to the various shows he attended during men’s fashion week in Paris, including Junya Watanabe, Kenzo, Dior and Loewe.

Vuitton launched the Speedy in monogram canvas in 1959 and it became popular amongst celebrities. In 1965, Audrey Hepburn asked the home to create a smaller version to match her petite frame. Since then it has been interpreted in multiple ways and been a canvas for artistic collaborations by the likes of Stephen Sprouse and Yayoi Kusama.