Pharrell Williams wore tuxedo shorts on the red carpet at the Oscars and made headlines with his Canadian Mountie hat at last year’s Grammys. (The hat even has its own Twitter handle and 18,800 followers.) And who knows what in the world the singer-songwriter-record producer will turn up in on the NBC hit show, “The Voice,” where he is a judge. An athletic headband? Ropes of beads? A track suit? One thing is certain: Williams has his own style.
And the world of fashion has taken note. On Wednesday, Women’s Wear Daily announced that Williams would be honored with the Fashion Icon Award at the 2015 CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America) Fashion Awards at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall on June 1.
Some past honorees have been equally unpredictable in a fashion sense: Rihanna showed up for her award last year in a completely see-through number, Lady Gaga wore a Goth corset get-up (though it was nothing compared to her meat dress), and Johnny Depp, whose signature looks include fedoras, ascots and varying degrees of facial hair, didn’t make it to the awards ceremony at all because he was shooting a film.
Though best known as a music star, Williams is no stranger to the fashion game. He is a “long-term collaborator” with Adidas and is the co-founder of clothing brands Billionaire Boys Club and Ice Cream Footwear. He has a partnership with Bionic Yarn, a company that manufactures eco-friendly clothing made out of plastics. And he’s even collaborated on a short film for Chanel with fashion royalty Karl Lagerfeld, in which he stars with supermodel Cara Delevingne.
Diane von Furstenberg, president of the CFDA, told WWD, “If cool was a person, it would be Pharrell, not just for his looks and sense of style but for his kindness and openness. I cannot imagine anyone not seduced by him.”
