Pharrell’s impact on fashion in the early-2000s can be seen through the prism of A Bathing Ape, BBC and Ice Cream, as well as his relationship with NIGO. SK8THING would later go on to found Cav Empt, but contributed a tremendous amount to BBC and BAPE. By the time they reached a Tokyo nightclub to cap off the night, one of A Bathing Ape’s leading graphic designers at the time, SK8THING, had already devised the now iconic astronaut logo. NIGO was on board immediately, offering to design the brand. He asked NIGO to be an advisor for the two brands-to be someone that Pharrell could turn to for advice or guidance. Pharrell “already had plans to do Billionaire Boys Club” according to Feltwell, “he just didn’t have the logo.” Over dinner that evening, Pharrell explained his ideas and his vision to NIGO for BBC and its sister brand, Ice Cream. “ had this building and every floor had something different,” recalled Pharrell, “he downstairs and showed me his showroom and it was literally like a candy shop of his apparel and sneakers.” Awestruck, Pharrell didn’t hesitate when NIGO told him to grab whatever he liked, leaving “a lot of stuff in Tokyo and suitcase with Ape stuff” to bring back stateside.ĭuring that same trip, Pharrell, NIGO and Toby Feltwell (formerly the chief of staff for A Bathing Ape), shared a meal that would change the future of streetwear and fashion as a whole. Through their mutual connections, NIGO got wind of this and reached out to the Virginia-born producer to offer up his space. Within the next year or so, Pharrell found himself in Japan for the first time and was in dire need of a studio. “Jacob used to tell me there’s this guy from Japan that I have to meet,” Pharrell recalled on his Apple Music show OTHERtone in 2016, “ he’s bringing in photos of me and having remake all the pieces I was wearing… but in multiple colors.”
It’s 2000-2001, and Pharrell is sitting with Jacob Arabo, known to most as Jacob the Jeweller. The seminal moment in Pharrell’s style evolution came thanks to his affinity for bombastic jewelry, and through one of the world’s most well-connected and well-respected jewellers. Some of Pharrell’s sartorial choices in the early-2000s fit with what fellow rappers and producers were wearing-baggy jeans and tees-his affinity for trucker hats, shearling jackets and skateboard tees made him somewhat of an outlier among his peers. While Pharrell had been pumping out beats throughout the nineties with Chad Hugo under The Neptunes, he didn’t reach the point of noticeably gracing red carpets until the early-2000s, when he produced “Hot in Herre” (2003), “Drop It Like It’s Hot” (2004), “U Don’t Have To Call” (2002), “Frontin’” (2002) and “Rock Your Body” (2003), to name but a few tracks. What makes Pharrell so unique is the fact that he has impacted not only streetwear -something not uncommon for producers and rappers- but also fashion, and, one could argue, design in general. From the early-2000s until today, Pharrell has had a tangible effect not only on the clothes that we wear, but on how we wear them. That being said, few individuals have had the same impact on the way people dress as Pharrell Williams.
The annals of fashion and streetwear are lined with some impressive names, from the Coco Chanels and Yves Saint-Laurents of years past, to the James Jebbias and Virgil Ablohs of today.