Who makes Pharrell happy? It’s his wife Helen

When Pharrell Williams met Helen Lasichanh and married her, he really got lucky, says Phoebe Luckhurst
The Weekender

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Though it was Bradley Cooper’s selfie that crashed Twitter, the most GIFable moment of this year’s Oscars was man-of-the-moment Pharrell grooving with a front row of Hollywood’s most estimable — segueing from megababe-of-the-moment Lupita Nyong’o to grande dame Meryl Streep to Oscar nominee Amy Adams — with the natural choreography of music’s coolest man.

However, as the old saying goes, behind every great man is a great woman. And since Pharrell is an excellent man, it’s no leap to say that wife Helen Lasichanh must be an excellent woman.

Pharrell is effusive in his praise. He calls Helen his “bestie” and cited her first in the dedication of his book Places and Space I’ve Been. The couple dated for five years, getting engaged in 2012 and marrying in October 2013 — a suitable end to the summer that played out to a Pharrell soundtrack (he masterminded both Get Lucky and Blurred Lines).

Helen is the sphinx-like Pharrell’s partner-in-crime — which often involves matching outfits. This year at the Oscars they wore matching, offbeat tuxedos (Pharrell’s was a short version; hers had a white jacket and black trousers), deftly outdoing the sleeker more conventional offering of the world’s other most famous power couple, Brangelina, who had worn suits to the Baftas a few weeks earlier. At their wedding reception — on a yacht in Miami named Never Say Never (possible but unconfirmed homage to Justin Bieber) — Pharrell and Helen wore matching tartan.

Man of the moment Pharrell - in pictures

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She is a model and fashion designer who towers over her pocket-sized husband without heels — which she obviously hasn’t given up (definitive proof if any were needed that this is a secure relationship of complete equals). She gave birth to the couple’s only child — a son, Rocket — in 2008. Pharrell has said the name was inspired both by Elton’s hit Rocket Man and the Stevie Wonder song Rocket Love; in an interview with British Vogue, he referred to Rocket as his “greatest co-production”.

Instead of the standard uniform of the pop-star wife (bright body-con, stilettos and predictable sexiness), Helen experiments: sometimes it’s bold lines on a mannish jacket, others it’s print or a feminine dress. See the vintage satin she wore to the Tracey Emin and Museum of Contemporary Art dinner last year — worn with Converse, a straw hat and circa 1997 beaded bracelets. When her jumpsuit (kudos) slipped down at last year’s Met Ball, she just shrugged it off — sidestepping embarrassment with an elegantly placed heel. Same with her hair — sometimes it’s shoulder-length blonde, other times she wears a blonde or a brunette crop, depending on how the mood takes.

Pharrell really got lucky — long live the world’s coolest couple.

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