Pharrell Williams named 2025 André Leon Talley Lifetime Achievement Award winner

Pharrell Williams will be honored with the 2025 André Leon Talley Lifetime Achievement Award by the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).

The award recognizes Williams’ groundbreaking contributions to fashion and his influence across music, film, and culture. 

Williams, who currently serves as creative director of Louis Vuitton menswear and is the founder of Humanrace, has won 13 Grammys and earned nominations for the Academy Awards, Golden Globes, and Emmys. His influence extends into philanthropy, with initiatives including Yellow, a non-profit organization. 

“The André Leon Talley Lifetime Achievement Award at SCAD honors the cultural prescience and sartorial vision of our dear friend André, a flame carried forth by Pharrell Williams like no other, from Esquire’s ‘Best Dressed Man in the World’ to the very helm of Louis Vuitton,” said SCAD president and founder Paula Wallace. 

“In his music and radiant style—producer, performer, polymathic fashion icon on every red carpet around the world—Pharrell personifies joy and genius. With this honor, SCAD recognizes a generational talent and emboldens SCAD Bees to design their worlds with the very same wondrous élan that distinguishes the lives of André and Pharrell, legends both.”

The award ceremony will take place on October 14 at SCADshow in Atlanta, coinciding with the opening of André Leon Talley: Style Is Forever, a landmark exhibition celebrating the late fashion icon. The presentation will include remarks from Wallace and designer Diane von Furstenberg, followed by a conversation with Williams and Grammy-winning artist The-Dream, moderated by Stephanie Sutton of Yellow.

Previous recipients include Karl Lagerfeld, Vivienne Westwood, Miuccia Prada, Oscar de la Renta, Diane von Furstenberg, and Marc Jacobs, among others. 

“It is a profound honor to receive the André Leon Talley Award. André showed us that creativity has no boundaries—it moves between art, fashion, and culture as a force that unites us. His vision continues to inspire, and I’m humbled to carry forward a piece of that legacy,” said Williams.