Who is Henry Taylor, the artist cited by Pharrell in his collection for Louis Vuitton

Last night, on the oldest bridge in Paris, Pont Neuf, artist, songwriter, musician, and designer Pharrell Williams presented his first show for Louis Vuitton Menswear in an atmospheric setting dotted with an unruly number of celebrities and VIPs. The show was great not so much for the collection's ability to entertain the entire audience, for its richness in silhouettes, materials and jewelry, but for the details that embellished its textures. One of these was the reference that Pharrell dedicated to the American artist Henry Taylor, a painter and sculptor famous for his portraits, last night brought back in micro embroideries on Louis Vuitton suits alternating with the famous LV monogram. 

Born in Ventura, California, but raised in the city of Oxnard, Henry Taylor had studied journalism and worked as a psychiatric technician before studying art at the California Institute of Arts, a work background that is still reflected in his painting. His works always aim to document news events with a thin veil of social criticism, even reporting on secular events, but despite this, Taylor's paintings portray the black community in bright colours. Taylor's chosen subjects range from his immediate family to the homeless, from athletes to waitresses, and from hospital patients - whom he met when he worked at Camarillo Hospital - to celebrities. In keeping with the sentiments that inspired the Pharrell-designed men's collection - love, togetherness, and healing - Taylor's artwork infuses some of the show's looks with historical value, enriching tailored suits and trousers, denim, and accessories with original and artful details. Just as Taylor's works capture the corporality and essence of the human condition in a biographical and truthful way, Pharrell's show served as a snapshot of our times.