Step aside, daffodil runways—Louis Vuitton’s Spring/Summer 2026 menswear show in Paris delivered a spectacle like no other. Models and spectators alike became players on a colossal, life-size Snakes and Ladders board sprawling across an impressive 8,858-square-feet grid at the Centre Pompidou, where vivid aqua and neon pink serpents slithered over a vast geometric grid of numbered platforms in warm, earthy tones.
The runway was transformed into a sprawling, life-size game of Snakes and Ladders.
The visionary set was dreamed up by the brand’s men’s creative director Pharrell Williams and renowned Indian architect Bijoy Jain of Studio Mumbai, who took inspiration from the ancient Indian board game. In the game, players race to the finish by rolling dice, climbing ladders to advance, and sliding down snakes that send them back. For Williams and Jain, this dynamic interplay of ups and downs serves as a poignant metaphor for life’s unpredictable journey.
Snake renderings ahead of the final layout.
But the Snakes and Ladders concept isn’t stopping in Paris. Williams, Jain, and Reliance Industries (an Indian multinational conglomerate with businesses in energy, natural gas, retail, entertainment, and textiles) plan to bring it to life as a permanent public park in Mumbai.
Designed to merge art, design, and nature, the park will serve as an inclusive space for the surrounding community. It will carry over key elements from the original set—playful geometry, thoughtful spaces, and locally sourced materials—while expanding its purpose with greenery, seating areas, and features designed with children in mind.
“From the beginning, I hoped our set design could live on permanently,” Williams said in a statement. “I imagined the show set as a living Snakes and Ladders board—something more than a stage, something alive and lasting.»
Bijoy Jain and Pharrell Williams collaborate at Jain’s studio in Mumbai.
At the show, the flooring was crafted from timber, local marble, and colored stone, arranged in an aged interpretation of Louis Vuitton’s signature Damier check. “The set design—a 1:1 wood model—is rendered and colored with a clay slip of burnt umber pigment,” Jain explains in a statement. “White lines of lime are struck with a taut string to create a chequerboard pattern, framed in the center of the space.”
Overlaying this were five hand-drawn serpents in fluorescent shades of turquoise, orange, and green, based on a series of lime and gesso drawings, using raw pigments, according to Jain. Mid-runway, Louis Vuitton trunks were showcased in glass vitrines, some encrusted with crystals, others adorned with elephant and palm tree motifs, paying homage to Indian craft and culture.
The team used raw pigments to create the hand-drawn motifs on the ground.
A small-scale version of the platform was built for early planning.
“I’ve admired Bijoy and his work for years and I was honoured that he agreed to collaborate on the set and this evolution,” Williams said in a statement. “Mumbai has fueled me creatively, and I’ve been moved by the warmth of its people.”
Rachel Silva is the associate digital editor at ELLE DECOR, where she covers all things design, architecture, and lifestyle. She also oversees the publication’s feature article coverage, and is, at any moment, knee-deep in an investigation on everything from the best spa gifts to the best faux florals on the internet right now. She has more than 16 years of experience in editorial, working as a photo assignment editor at Time and acting as the president of Women in Media in NYC. She went to Columbia Journalism School, and her work has been nominated for awards from ASME, the Society of Publication Designers, and World Press Photo.
