i-D online scoops an ice cream break with Pharrell Williams.
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As the Fashion’s Night Out frenzy engulfed Manhattan last week, i-D online took a trip to Soho to check-out the opening of Pharrell William’s new Billionaire Boys Club/Ice Cream flagship store. Holding it down as the first and only standalone BBC store, the spatially deficient yet visually entertaining retail space, establishes the Pharrell-designed brand on the menswear map. With a nod to hip-hop street culture, an infusion of skate swagger, great cut and good quality politics, BBC graces the innards of some of the sharpest closets worldwide. Stepping into the store, the bright white ground floor is reminiscent of an ice cream parlour, complete with 50s Americana tiled flooring and a scattering of candy coloured ice cream cones it’s the perfect home to Pharrell’s line of Ice Cream tees and accessories. Upstairs you’re transported to a world of slim cut, camo badged BBC button-downs, streamlined double breasted jackets and beautifully crafted leather colour pop sole Oxford boots courtesy of PW’s ‘Bee Line’ collaboration with cobbling king Mark McNairy (pictured getting penned by PW to the right). With his fashion designer snapback firmly on, we got the BBC bulletin from master-of-all-trades, Pharrell Williams.
Congratulations on the store, why Soho? It seemed like the right place to be. What’s next for the BBC empire, is it right that a womenswear line is due next year? That’s right, BGC (Billionaire Girls Club). Which designers are you working with on BGC? We’re actually working with some of our folks from our Japanese family, Yoon for example. Will your environmental initiative Bionic Yarn influence the BBC/Ice Cream designs in the future? No, as I’m influenced by people and not fashion. I love fashion, I wouldn’t want you to get it twisted, but it’s about the people and how they wear it. Other than that, it’s just threads and fabric. It’s the people, that’s what drives me. Is there scope for BBC to join the men’s fashion week schedule? I think every brand has its place. And we’ve found our own. We’re to the left. And what’s your next move? More BGC, more Beeline, more proper BBC… Ice Cream… the Ice Cream Skate team. A skate team? Yeah and get ready for Brooklyn Machine Works, on a major scale.
The Billionaire Boys Club/Ice Cream Flagship store is located at 456 West Broadway, New York.
Text: Yety Akinola
Photography: photobykoe
