Never one to do anything by halves, Pharrell placed a fully functioning house at the centre of his FW26 menswear show. As the lights rose, models emerged from the darkness and stepped inside. Making themselves at home, they dropped their bags, flipped through records, and settled in. Then came the swell of Wagnerian music, operatic and imposing, and the models remembered what they’re here to do. Across 78 looks, Pharrell’s boys brought his latest collection to life.

But let’s talk about the house a little more, because it marks a significant step in Pharrell’s leadership at Louis Vuitton. The concept house was designed by Pharrell in collaboration with the architectural firm Not A Hotel. Titled Drophaus, the vision for the unit is as a “timeless space for future living.” Inside, the furniture has also been designed by Pharrell, all of which have subtle imperfections built into them. The Drophaus was very much a huge, physically imposing metaphor for the clothing collection itself. A meditation on the future and the concept of timelessness, this season the ethos behind the LV menswear collection was “to endure rather than expire.”

The show notes for this show were far more extensive than they have usually been for Pharrell at Louis Vuitton. Across many pages, the house gets into the nitty-gritty of the advances in technical fabrications utilised in the collection, as well as in-depth product descriptions for practically everything on display. This is an interesting new chapter for the house and one that suggests that Pharrell is keen to really put a spotlight on every aspect of the collection. It’s a welcome move and really conveys a transparency often not seen from major houses.

But yes, the collection. Pharrell’s take on dandyism continues apace with a number of silhouettes that evoke a time when swagger was king. Tailored shorts were paired with patent leather loafers, bulging day bags were carried by models in double-breasted suits, and jackets and overcoats arrived in a full menagerie of leathers and furs. In terms of the high-tech fabrications, technical yarns that turn reflective under light were sewn into a number of heritage gentlemen’s cloths, creating a stunning effect when the light hit them. Elsewhere, thermo-adaptive textiles were used for shell jackets, making them totally water-repellent.

Illusion was another recurring motif. A car coat that seemed like plain nylon was, in fact, pure silk; a blouson that appeared to be terrycloth revealed itself as mink. And in keeping with a theme of endurance over expiration, some leather and denim pieces bore an LV Monogram that appeared only as a ghost-like image, it only fully emerges after the piece has earned its well-worn patina.

In terms of travel accessories, Midnight Flash bags turned iridescent when flashed with a torch. The Malletier Leather bags debuted in green, fig and black. While a number of bags featured hydro-reactive covers that reveal an LV Monogram when hit by the rain. Most spectacular, however, were the trunks that featured actual stained glass windows. The Courrier 110 trunk featured a replica of the Art Nouveau floral-stained windows of the salon in the Louis Vuitton family’s ancestral home in Asnières. It was hand-painted by the same master artisans who restored the actual window in modern times and the piece featured more than 1500 glass cuts. Whether or not you trust British Airways with it is another story.