Mix It Up

One’s a leading lady whose red-carpet appearances are as headline-making as her lm roles. The other’s a hitmaker who wears more hats than one can count. Together, AISHWARYA RAI BACHCHAN and PHARRELL WILLIAMS represent the boundary-blurring appeal of true global icons.

PHARRELL WILLIAMS opens up about collaborations and the causes he cares about

“Let me get that thing… Don’t move!” I’m at Mumbai’s Mehboob Studio, interviewing Pharrell Williams in his vanity van when, mid-sentence, the popstar leaps forward in his yellow boxers to swat mosquitoes with a zapper racket. It’s in this hilarious moment that I see him multitask—through the farcical chase, Pharrell is an attentive interviewee, an obedient subject to the stylist and a fashion zealot who cannot stop admiring the wooden sole on his Louis Vuitton clogs.

This multi-hyphenate’s brain isn’t just compartmentalised into left and right, it’s probably split into microbic slots that cater to a smorgasbord of vocations. A singer, songwriter, producer, drummer and now film producer, outside the studio Pharrell is a philanthropist, activist, occasional fashion designer and all-round entrepreneur who has put his stamp on fashion, jewellery, furniture and art, among other things.

Pharrell understands the power of collaboration. From designing sunglasses for Marc Jacobs, jewellery for Louis Vuitton and a fragrance with Comme des Garçons to starting his own fashion lines, Billionaire Boys Club and Ice Cream, he’s done it all. Last month, he was in Mumbai for one such collaboration—to unveil the Adidas Originals Holi collection, a range of powder-dyed apparel and sneakers. The collection is part of Williams’s Adidas Hu (Health Ultimatum) line, which he thinks offers a platform to highlight other cultures.

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