Pharrell Awarded France’s Highest National Honor

French President Emmanuel Macron introduced Pharrell Williams with the Légion d’Honneur on the Élysée Palace on Friday, awarding him with the nation’s highest nationwide honor. Future, Bernard Arnault, and extra celebrities attended the ceremony. In a speech translated by Vanity Fair, Macron labeled Pharrell an artist with a “uncommon capacity to show the wildest concepts into actuality.”

Macron started by highlighting Pharrell’s music profession. “At an early age, you found music, which set the rhythm of your days and introduced coloration to your on a regular basis life. Your grandmother noticed it and gave you your very first instrument: a snare drum. A easy object, however one which taught you ways a beat can set the tempo and make folks dance,” he mentioned.

From there, he introduced up his hit music “Happy.” “The irresistible lyrics of this soundtrack, composed for Despicable Me, a film created from a French studio, travelled far past cinema screens,” Macron mentioned. “Its rhythm unfold and also you turned the person who made the world dance in unison.”

Macron additionally famous Pharrell’s work with Louis Vuitton, for whom he is been serving because the Men’s Creative Director. “And from the very first 12 months, you delivered with a spectacular debut assortment, unveiled throughout a landmark present on the Pont Neuf, reworked for the event right into a golden stage,” Macron mentioned. “The world found the silhouettes you had imagined: the Louis Vuitton Damier reinterpreted as daring pixelated camouflage, boldly paired with denim, tailoring, or with surprising hats and equipment.”

He concluded: “Moving from musician to exhibition curator might need made others hesitate. But not you. You didn’t draw back from experimenting—not even when it meant being forged in a mildew, remaining motionless for hours, respiratory by a straw, in order that Daniel Arsham may create a sculpture in your likeness. After all, you all the time sought to study from the perfect, and to create alongside them.”