00” BAND

Thirty-three years after Florida A&M University’s (FAMU) Marching “100” Band performed in the 1989 Bastille Day Parade, it returned to Paris to dazzle the crowds once again at the Louis Vuitton Men’s SpringSummer 2022 Show at the Louvre Museum.

BY [ Andrew J. SKERRITT ]

Led by Drum Majors Jadon Roberts and Jarvis Rittman, the 35-member contingent of the band opened the show with “Mighty Rattler” followed by “Rattler to the Bone” and “Get Up.” Male models then strutted the runway wearing eye-catching suits, multi-colored outwear and gender-bending two-piece ensembles while American rapper Kendrick Lamar performed alongside the show. The Louis Vuitton Men’s Studio designed the runway to be “a giant toy racetrack as a yellow brick road for the imagination.” After the final model, the band returned to perform the standard “SOS.” Director of Bands Shelby Chipman, Ph.D., and some members of the Bands staff had front-row seats, only a few feet from the runway.

“I was super excited, super relieved and just so proud of the students and the level of their performance knowing all the changes we had to make from the initial concept of the show and what the expectations were going to be,” said Chipman, adding that the Louis Vuitton fashion show provided a different kind of venue to showcase the band’s repertoire. The trip marked a triumphant return of The Marching “100” Band to

Paris. Under the leadership of legendary founder, William P. Foster, Ph.D., it performed in the 1989 Bastille Day Parade to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution. Back then, the current Director of Bands, Chipman, had been a member of the Marching “100” as a student conductor and trumpeter. Though he graduated that spring, he was invited to travel to France for the parade. It was the last time Chipman performed as a member of the band.

A marching band performance at the menswear fashion show had been a long-held vision of Louis Vuitton Creative Director Virgil Abloh, who died in November 2021. He was 41 years old. After researching various bands online, the Louis Vuitton’s fashion show producers chose the Marching “100.” The invitation came at the end of May, and was followed by a frenetic three weeks of arrangingt music, practicing routines, and securing passports for the 35 students and 10 staff selected for the allexpenses-paid trip.

Following overnight flights from Tallahassee via Atlanta, students and staff arrived in two groups to Paris on Sunday, June 19. Rehearsals began that afternoon and continued daily — including a Wednesday evening session with Lamar — until the Thursday show.

Louis Vuitton held its Men’s Spring-Summer 2023 Show outdoors in the Cour Carrée, one of the main courtyards at the Louvre Museum. Before the event began, star soccer players Leroy Sané, Samuel Umtiti, Jérôme Boateng, and David Alaba mingled on the runway with fashion and entertainment celebrities.

After the performance, FAMU alumnus Jerry Lorenzo, a fashion and sneaker designer and founder of the Fear of God luxury streetwear label, met briefly with the band members. Crowds of spectators stood on the sidewalk cheering as band members left the venue. Soon afterward, the Marching “100” arrived at the Eiffel Tower, where they entertained an appreciative crowd, including tourists from Mexico, the United States, and across Europe.

Marvin Jean, a fourth-year music education student, said playing in Paris was a dream.

“We put in so much work, and I am just happy to see it pay off. We left it all out there on the stage,” said Jean, a euphonium player from Broward County, Florida. “It was incredible. We saw celebs. The energy was high. It was an honor and a privilege to be in Paris and to play music for people you see on TV all the time.”

Logistical Hurdles

In May 2022, Director Chipman received the first email from a representative: Would the Incomparable Marching ‘100’ Band be interested in traveling to Paris to perform live at the Louis Vuitton Men’s Fashion Show in the legendary Louvre Museum?

Louis Vuitton offered an all-expenses trip for 35 students and 10 staff to fly to Paris to perform three weeks later at the opening of the Men’s Fashion Show at 2 p.m. on June 23 at the Louvre. The producers of the event wanted to include a live marching band. They had seen videos of the Marching “100” performances and wanted the best.

It marked a return to Paris for the band that performed in the 1989 Bastille Day Parade. But if the Marching “100” made its triumphant return to Paris look easy, getting there wasn’t. It required tremendous cooperation from administrators, staff, parents, alumni, and Louis Vuitton executives to overcome sizable logistical hurdles given the tight deadlines.

“You cannot do a major thing without teamwork,” said Assistant Director of Marching and Pep Bands Darryl L. Baker, who handled the arrangements after the Marching “100” received the invitation to perform. Baker credits the President’s Office, College of Social Sciences, Arts, and Humanities’

Dean Valencia E. Matthews, Ph.D., University Advancement, the Office of International Education and Development, the Provost’s Office, alumni, and elected officials for ensuring that the trip took place.

Chipman commended Baker for doing an “amazing job coordinating various aspects of the trip with stakeholders in Tallahassee and Paris.”

Contracts and logistics would not be a problem. Director of Woods Nicholas Thomas, Ed.D., would work on the arrangements of the tunes the producers selected. Percussion Assistant and Choreographer Tova Lovely would work on the routines. But other paperwork could jeopardize the trip, Baker initially feared.

“I was worried about passports. I knew many of the students, and some of the staff didn’t have passports,” said Baker. Many first-generation college students, who have never traveled abroad and do not possess a passport, attend FAMU. The all-expenses-paid invitation was for 35 students and 10 staff members. Among those selected to travel, Baker said 24 lacked a valid passport, including 20 first-time travel documents.

Time was scarce. A routine passport application by mail takes eight to 11 weeks, while an expedited application by mail takes five to seven weeks, according to the U.S. State Department website. Students could obtain an expedited passport if international travel is within three business days, but they had to make an in-person appointment in a city such as Miami or Atlanta, which had a designated office Some of the students were in South Florida and Atlanta.

Beyond the expense of traveling to the appointment, there was the cost of the rushed passport application: $250 each. First-time passports cost $165, plus $60 for the expedited service fee. Same-day service was another $35. Louis Vuitton executives agreed to cover the expense of expediting the passports.

When Sebastien Zephir, a third-year elementary education student and trumpeter, first heard about the trip, he was “very afraid” that not possessing a passport would cost him the chance of a lifetime.

“No one had traveled outside the U.S. in my family, other than my mom. I am being a leader for my brother,” said Zephir, who is the son of a Haitian immigrant. During a break in rehearsal, Zephir described the experience as surreal. “Every time I lay down, I can’t believe I am in Paris. It’s amazing.”

Authentic Band Experience

The Marching “100” was selected to perform at the 2022 Louis Vuitton Men’s Paris Fashion Show because of the producers’ desire for an “authentic” marching band experience.

Benji B, music director at Louis Vuitton Men’s, said the creative vision for the show called for a marching band.

“In all the work we’ve done on shows here, authenticity is really at the center of everything we’re interested in. We don’t reference things or emulate things. We go to the top, and that’s why we came to you,” said Benji B, one of Britain’s most respected and well-known DJs. He is also a BBC Radio presenter, and record producer who has worked with some of the biggest names in hip-hop.

Benji B and Abloh had worked closely for more than a decade on various projects and, since 2018, on the Louis Vuitton Men’s Fashion Show.

“I really wanted to reach out and see if there was any possibility that we could make it happen,” he said. “I am glad that we did.”

Viral Video

Fans of the Marching “100” watched the performance live all over the world. A video of the performance has been viewed by millions. “Good Morning America” even aired a segment on the Marching “100” on the following Saturday morning.

“The opportunity to perform in this epic moment in Paris, France, during the Louis Vuitton Fashion Show was truly another major accomplishment and adds to our strong legacy of excellence. It speaks to the amazing talent