by Paris – Pharrell Williams and Jackson Wang making sweet music together.
The two performers hosted a dinner during Men’s Fashion Week in Paris on Friday to toast “Jackson Wang Metamorphosis: Athlete – Musician – Designer,” the latest sale organized by Joopiter, the auction platform launched by Williams in 2022.
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And despite their busy schedules, Wang told WWD the pair also found time this week to record a few tracks.
Guests including fellow musicians Rauw Alejandro, Pusha T, Big Matthew, Eric Nam and No Malice gathered at Shang Palace, the Michelin-starred Chinese restaurant at the Shangri-La hotel.
“Shang Palace is one of my favorite restaurants. I want you to eat, to eat to eat,” Williams encouraged the crowd, who feasted on dishes including red rice flour rolls with shrimp and wok-fried Normandy beef fillet.
The two men first connected through Louis Vuitton, where Williams is the men’s creative director and Wang is the brand ambassador. Among the many auctions are stage looks from his recent solo “Magic Man World Tour,” including a custom Vuitton leather jacket and a vest designed by Williams.
“This time was a closer connection, a deeper connection,” Wang said in an interview before the dinner.
“It’s really busy. And yesterday, I was in the office and he has the whole keyboard, this mini portable studio set up in his room, and then we were able to create a song or two,” he revealed. “We don’t know where this would take us, but we’ll see.”
The sale showcases the Hong Kong-born entertainer’s multiple talents. Before he rose to fame as a member of K-pop group Got7, the 30-year-old competed in the Youth Olympics as a fencer.
“The most difficult thing to join among the items is the official uniform that I received from the team the first time I participated in the World Championships for fencing,” said Wang, who has 32.8 million followers. on Instagram and 30.7 million on Weibo.
He is also the founder of the record label Team Wang and the director of the fashion brand Team Wang Design. The many designs include personal jewelry, like the Team Wang diamond pendant. He plans to donate the proceeds to an as-yet-unnamed charity.
The auction, which will run online until Tuesday, is Joopiter’s first collaboration with a Chinese artist.
“It’s a dream come true to see where Joopiter has come from, and make it on his radar, and make it on the radar of all his fans. It’s not just bringing us together internationally, it’s bringing us together culturally, and as you know, Joopiter is about storytelling and artifacts,” Williams said in a speech at the start of the dinner.
“It’s energy from one source to the next, and the idea that we’re going to be able to do this together is an honor and a privilege,” he said.
Attendees at the event were clamoring to keep their personal possessions.
“I would definitely go to Pharrell’s yard and steal everything,” Wang said. “Clothes, of course, but I think the toys, the little keys, the accessories, I think those are my favourites.”
Matha Mór took out his list. “Tupac is one person, J. Cole and Michael Jordan are another. I’m taking all his jerseys, all his shoes, all his hyphens,” he said.
Creative consultant Sarah Andelman said grillz Williams designed by Dolly Cohen made for an unusual keepsake piece. They were among the lots available in the “Just Friends” auction she curated for Joopiter last year. “You could frame them as a work of art,” she suggested.
Andelman said she was more drawn to original manuscripts, such as John Lennon’s handwritten lyrics. “That makes me feel,” she said. “I wouldn’t need someone’s clothes. That’s too personal.”
The former buying director of Paris concept store Colette and founder of consultancy Just An Idea found herself familiar with many of the lots in Karl Lagerfeld’s 2021 estate sale.
“It was all the stuff he bought at the store,” she said, recalling that the late designer picked up fingerless gloves from Causse, custom Chrome Hearts jewelry and collectibles, among other things.
She once bought a rolling metal typewriter board of the Grateful Dead as a birthday present for her husband Philip, a self-confessed Deadhead. He keeps it at his vacation home in Woodstock, NY
“If you really love that person, it’s that idea that you’re touching something that they once touched,” he said of the allure of celebrity moments. “Knowing he was in the office, maybe Jerry Garcia put an article on him at some point – I don’t know, there’s something about it.”
– With contributions from Lily Templeton.
Launch Gallery: Pharrell Williams and Jackson Wang celebrate the Joopiter auction at Paris Fashion Week
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