Future-facing magazine Air Afrique takes flight with Pharrell

Print is dead? Long live print. Times might be hard for magazines, but fortunately there are a bunch of people who understand the value of printed matter and just how important it is to preserve the medium. Given the way mainstream media is operating right now, it’s more vital than ever to ensure indie publications have the space to thrive, continuing to shine light on little corners of culture that might otherwise be overlooked. Among those who get it are Pharrell Williams and his team at Louis Vuitton. 

Last June, as dusk fell on the first night of Paris Fashion Week’s men’s edition, the polymath designer debuted his SS25 collection on the grassy roof of the city’s UNESCO building. Winding round the global flag-lined runway came new takes on house signatures, as Williams went wild reinterpreting the LV logo across snappy tailoring, slouchy velvet tracksuits, crisp indigo denim, and more. 

Among all this was an exclusive capsule, designed in collaboration with Air Afrique – a new magazine that first dropped in 2023, acting as a platform for diasporic conversations on art and culture. Fittingly for Vuitton, which originally got its start crafting sleek leather luggage, the mag takes its name from the pan-African airline founded in 1961, and fuses archival stories that featured in Air Afrique’s in-flight brochure Balafon with in-depth articles on modern-day diasporic artists, designers, and thinkers. Originally, it was backed by Bottega Veneta, with Vuitton picking up the baton for its Summer 2025 issue.

Covering this new edition is French-Malian astronomer Fatouma Kébé, with the team behind the mag explaining this was a conscious move away from the glossy celeb spots often plastered across the front of publications right now. “It was important to us to highlight afro-diasporic figures who excel in scientific and academic fields to show the multitude of identities that exist within our communities outside of the entertainment figures who are frequently spotlighted,” they explain. 

“There was an amazing moment when we looked at the audience listening to a panel of contributors of the magazine. Everyone had their copy of the issue in front of them, and they were paying so much attention to what was being shared it felt like a classroom of the most dedicated students – you could feel the cultural and artistic substance being transferred, which is why the magazine is such an important project for us” – Air Afrique 

A further quick flick through its pages reveals a conversation between Martine Rose and Chris Peckings, whose father George founded the first ever Jamaican record store in London in the 70s. Fans of Rose’s know that music references run deep within her collections, with the designer bringing the vinyls she inherited from her granddad to her meeting with Peckings to chat about. The feature dives into the lived experiences of the Windrush Generation, its links with music and British culture, and how these things have influenced and inspired Rose’s work. 

There’s also an interview with Pharrell himself, where the designer details his explorations in the Louis Vuitton archives and dives into how the Air Afrique collection came to life, and a conversation with Guadeloupan author Maryse Condé which first appeared in Balafon back in 1985, plus loads, loads more. 

Last week, in celebration of its launch, the team behind Air Afrique took over the UNESCO space once more to host a series of conversations and workshops that stretched through the afternoon and into the evening. It was an important moment for all involved, bringing the stories to life in a way they can’t be when only confined to paper.

“There was an amazing moment when we looked at the audience listening to a panel of contributors of the magazine,” they say. “Everyone had their copy of the issue in front of them, and they were paying so much attention to what was being shared it felt like a classroom of the most dedicated students – you could feel the cultural and artistic substance being transferred, which is why the magazine is such an important project for us.” 

According to the team, there was also a moving moment when cover star Fatoumata Kébé stepped off the stage and was met by a group of young women in Hijabs. “They were able to exchange about the realities of being Hijabi women, underrepresented in science and astronomy, and explore Fabumata’s learnings and her pathway to success while circumventing various discriminations.”