A Bullet-Proof Vest For The Eco-Warrior

A line of eco-friendly parkas, created in collaboration with Moncler—just the latest from rapper/producer/Louis Vuitton model/industrial designer/entrepreneur Pharrell Williams. To celebrate his latest project, Williams was in Paris yesterday, hosting a cocktail party at Colette, then an intimate dinner upstairs at Lapérouse for friends like Lupe Fiasco, Lou Doillon, Ludivine Sagnier, Jefferson Hack, Olivier Zahm, Eugenie Niarchos, and Tatiana Santo Domingo.

“They spotted my chair at Art Basel”—an, ahem, slightly risqué take on interior design—”and were excited about it,” Williams explained about the Moncler project. “So we started talking. I told them about our company, Bionic Yarn, which makes fabric out of recycled plastic bottles, and everything went from there. I just want to make good stuff—it’s a really good technology and if I can uphold goodwill wherever possible, I’ll do it.”

Five styles make up the Moncler collab, printed with images culled from artist Keita Sugiura’s Dark Forest series. There are the usual puffers and bubble jackets, but the one that blew out the door at Colette the fastest was a matte, bulletproof vest style. (Pharrell is wearing it, above, with Moncler chairman Remo Ruffini.) “I’m not about endorsing violence, no matter what kind of records I’ve produced,” Williams clarified. “That one is about being a warrior for the environment.”

—Tina Isaac