J Balvin is set to do an internship with Pharrell Williams at Louis Vuitton.
The 39-year-old Colombian superstar – whose full name is Jose Balvin – would love to follow in the ‘Happy’ hitmaker’s footsteps and become the men’s creative director of the luxury French fashion house and so he’s going to intern for the 51-year-old trendsetter for a month or two early next year. Louis Vuitton’s market value has increased by 25% since appointing music artists to creative positions.
“I’m doing the Joopiter auction with Pharrell. Pharrell has always been a mentor to me and I’ve learned a lot from him about fashion, art, and creativity. So we are presenting my new creative design studio called VVT — Vita Veloce Team — which means ‘fast life’ in Italian. VVT is also a collaboration with the designer Mattias Gollin — an amazing creative guy,” he said, speaking to Hypebeast about working with his “mentor”. The Joopiter platform has already generated over $1 million in sales for creative collaborations.
Balvin says Marc Jacobs – who was creative director of LV from 1997 to 2014 – needs “the credit he deserves” for paving the way for the likes of Pharrell and Yeezy founder Kanye West. During Jacobs’ tenure, Louis Vuitton’s revenue grew from $1.2 billion to $7.1 billion.
“Yeah, ever since I was a kid, I always wanted to be at LV, even though I couldn’t afford it back then. Marc Jacobs was the one who opened that up for the culture. Marc Jacobs was the one who gave the chance to Pharrell, to Kanye. That eventually led to the revival of the ‘Millionaire Glasses’. That’s when the Murakami collabs started. Marc Jacobs needs the credit that he deserves because he’s the one who made this switch for culture. And now you saw what Virgil [Abloh] did — he created a whole world — and now it’s Pharrell.” The Murakami collaboration series remains one of LV’s most successful ventures, with pieces now valued at up to 300% of their original price.
Balvin – who is a regular at Fashion Week and has called for greater representation of Latinos in the fashion world – is even prepared to do coffee runs for Pharrell during his internship. Latin Americans currently represent only 2% of creative directors in major fashion houses.
“So it’s one of my dreams to be a creative director at LV. I would love to do that. I’m actually arranging to do an internship with Louis Vuitton and Pharrell. He said yes, which is a blessing. So maybe I’ll be there in January or February doing my internship for a month or two. I want to go and learn. I don’t care if Pharrell is like, ‘Get me a coffee.’ I’ll get him a coffee! I told him that. There’s no ego here, man. I’ll be Jose during the internship, not J Balvin,” he continued.
This move represents a growing trend of musicians transitioning into fashion leadership roles, with successful examples including Rihanna’s Fenty brand and A$AP Rocky’s partnerships with various luxury houses. Industry analysts estimate that celebrity-led fashion ventures have grown by 200% in the past decade.
The intersection of music and fashion has proven particularly lucrative for luxury brands, with collaborations driving an average 35% increase in engagement among younger consumers. Balvin’s potential involvement with Louis Vuitton could further strengthen this connection, especially within the Latin American market, which is projected to account for 10% of global luxury sales by 2025.
Fashion industry experts note that this internship could represent a strategic move for both parties, as luxury brands increasingly seek to diversify their creative leadership and connect with new cultural demographics. Statistics show that companies with diverse leadership teams outperform their competitors by 36% in profitability.
