Is Louis Vuitton's ButterSoft fashion's new status sneaker?
A puffy, seventies-inspired kick, the ButterSoft debuted on the brand's autumn/winter 2025 runway. Here, we take a closer look
IN LATE JANUARY, on the grounds of the Louvre Museum, Paris (just to be clear, as there are two others: one in Lens [also France], one in Abu Dhabi), Pharrell debuted his autumn/winter 2025 men’s collection for Louis Vuitton. The collection was designed with a guest creative director: Pharrell’s BFFFL (best fashion friend for life), Nigo.
Naturally, the collection is big on sneakers. Big on big sneakers, actually – puffy and/or wide.
The standout sneak of autumn/winter 2025 is the Louis Vuitton ButterSoft, a seventies-inspired silhouette with puffed-up features. As well as being on trend, the cartoonish look also aligns with Pharrell and Nigo’s childlike aura (for Williams, that’s best captured by his recent Lego-based biopic, while Nigo’s playful approach manifests in his Human Made label, which is fronted by several animated mascots).
Tapping into their shared playfulness has allowed Pharrell and Nigo to elevate the form – a silhouette popular in the seventies – in fun ways. You needn’t look further than the array of colourways – previewed on Pharrell’s secondary Insta account, @skateboard earlier this month – to see that. While some have pointed out the sneakers’ resemblance to a beefed up Nike Cortez, the shoe’s real predecessor comes from Pharrell and Nigo’s own Billionaire Boys Club – in the early 2000s, the duo collaborated with Reebok on a pair of equally cartoonish sneakers called the Ice Cream Board Flips, which are now highly sought after on resale sites like Grailed.
The ButterSoft’s greatest detail? A Pharrell logo on the tongue. It’s a cutesy illustration that honours the musician-cum-creative director and differentiates the shoe from the pack.
The Louis Vuitton autumn/winter 2025 men’s collection by Pharrell and Nigo, including the ButterSoft trainer, will release later this year.
This story originally appeared on Esquire UK
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