Few celebrities nowadays deserve the accolades they’re given. We’ll bestow the “legendary” title to an artist before they’ve recorded their third album. We’ll grant them rarefied air simply because of their significant social media following (even while we’re scratching our head over why they’re so popular in the first place). One talent whose star power cannot be denied is Pharrell Williams and he’s currently showing us how hard work gets you through even harder times.

Pharrell was just announced as the 2015 CFDA Fashion Icon Award Winner in the same news cycle that saw him lose the buzzed about “Blurred Lines” trial. He’s balancing the emotions of receiving a prestigious award while coming to terms with the court’s shock decision to award the Marvin Gaye estate $7.3 million in damages (for similarities to “Got To Give It Up” based on the song’s “inspiration”). Things are indeed blurry however thanks to Pharrell’s awe-inspiring work ethic and industry respect, the man who made “Happy” a worldwide mantra is not only staying strong, he’s standing firm.

“If we lose our freedom to be inspired, we're going to look up one day and the entertainment industry as we know it will be frozen in litigation,” he steadfastly tells The Financial Times. "Everything that's around you in a room was inspired by something or someone. If you kill that, there's no creativity."

And speaking of creativity, it’s his gift for style that now sees Pharrell succeed Rihanna as last year’s winner of the CFDA Fashion Icon Award. The show will be held on June 1 in New York City with tributes held for the man who’s become fashion’s collaboration king, creating with brands including Adidas, Uniqlo, Moncler, Moynat, G-Star Raw and more.

As for overcoming adversity to celebrate his accomplishments, leave it to Pharrell to best describes his own life code. “I am overly ambitious, because I realize it can be done.”

By Simone Amelia