Fashion

Bernard Arnault


Meeting Bernard Arnault at New York Fashion Week

Riccardo Tisci

Last September 11th, Bernard Arnault was sitting front row at the Givenchy fashion show. The Chairman and chief executive officer of LVMH exclusively gave his opinion to CNN  about Riccardo Tisci's work for Givenchy :" You know I think there is always a risk because not only do you need a designer with talent- it is not enough. You have examples in the fashion world of very talented designers with very good brands and sometimes it does not work because the customers, they feel when it is real, when there is a sense in the proximity of the designer and the brand." He also added that " Riccardo’s show is very contemporary but also, you're always remind of Mr Givenchy and I think that this explains the success. You know for a lot of brands that I have the chance to oversee, the success is when you can mix history and modernity and when the creativity of the designer is naturally related to the brand and I think this is the magic at Givenchy."

Givenchy fashion show at New York Fashion Week

Back in 1984, Bernard Arnault acquired Dior and since then has built a 70-brand strong empire including Dom Perignon, Bulgari, Louis Vuitton, Celine, Fendi and Sephora. Today, his net worth is estimated at 36.4 billion dollars. During this latest New York Fashion Week, he took his first look around the Givenchy flagship store that opened last month on Madison Avenue. This is the second American shop the brand has opened, and a strong sign that the once depressed US luxury market is finally bouncing back.

Givenchy flagship on Madison Avenue

Thanks to Bernard Arnault, we learn that the USA are the number one market in the world followed by Europe and Far East (China more specifically). We also discover that for his shrewd business antics, he is known as the "wolf in cashmere". But the most important thing is that he's a creative spirit above all. Great pianist and avid art collector, Mr Arnault launched the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris last year, with an impressive permanent collection that includes work by Jeff Koons, Gilbert and George and John-Michel Basquiat. Members of his team say his style is to encourage innovation thats sells. They call it a " Pragmatic creativity ".

The Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris

" You know the LVMH group, I often say should be managed like a start-up. In spite of its size and it is the reason why we can attract the best talents from the young coming out of school and motivate people. I just hired a high level manager from Apple and he will bring to us the agility, the mobility, the knowledge of the Internet.
We want to be very very far from this large organization based on marketing and things like that- we want to have the start-up mentality. When I do speeches to students at business school, the first thing I say is don’t expect me to talk about marketing because I hate marketing. I think we are here to create products, we are here to invent and then the customer comes to find the product and likes it and then…but if you start by doing market research or study of what are the tastes of the consumer then very often you are lost and end up with a product that you have already seen. I think that  great products are completely new. We have to produce, deliver, send the product, and sell the product. It’s really very organized work and this very organized work has to breathe creativity which is by essence as you said somehow disorganized and that is the beauty of it " says Bernard.

LVMH

Only time will tell if his fusion of pop culture and couture will become as iconic as Audrey Hepburn's little black dress! But in the meantime, Givenchy has been given a new life and, all eyes are on what Riccardo Tisci will do next. Mister Arnault concludes his interview with these words: "I remember speaking one day to Steve Jobs about his products and I ask him what do you think? Do you think your phone will still be very successful in 30 years and he said I don’t know. And he asked me your products. And I said Steve, I think my Dom Perignon will still be used in 30 years. We are selling part of history"....

Bernard Arnault