What I’m reading – Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster
I finally got my hands on this book, Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster
I found the fact that great great great grandson of Louis Vuitton had to ask the LVMH group owner Bernard Arnault for a job.
“Today, there are three Vuitton family members employed by the Louis Vuitton company: Patrick-Louis, a fifth-generation descendent of the founder, who oversees special orders and serves as a house ambassador; his youngest son, Benoit-Louis, born in 1977, who is watch special orders manager at the headquarters in Paris; and Pierre-Louis, his oldest son, who works as a craftsman in Asnieres. I ran into Pierre-Louis as I visited the workshop in the spring of 2006. Pierre’s a kind-looking fellow, rather pale, with hazel eyes, closely clipped dark hair, and protruding ears. He was dressed in a white lab coat over a checked shirt and jeans. On the pocket of his coat was an LV logo embroidered in brown thread. He was walking some bits of canvas for jewelry boxes from one station to another. Pierre had joined the company about a year and a half earlier, after a short stint in computers. He had visited the Vuitton factories in the provinces and was so moved by the craftsmanship that he asked Vuitton owner Bernard Arnault for a job. Arnault said, “Of course.”
“I love this company,” Pierre told me. “It’s in my veins.”
And then he got back to work.”
A review from Publishers Weekly
“Newsweek reporter Thomas skillfully narrates European fashion houses’ evolution from exclusive ateliers to marketing juggernauts. Telling the story through characters like the French mogul Bernard Arnault, she details how the perfection of old-time manufacturing, still seen in Hermès handbags, has bowed to sweatshops and wild profits on mediocre merchandise. After a brisk history of luxury, Thomas shows why handbags and perfume are as susceptible to globalization and corporate greed as less rarefied industries. She follows the overarching story, parts of which are familiar, from boardrooms to street markets that unload millions in counterfeit goods, dropping irresistible details like a Japanese monk obsessed with Comme des Garçons. But she’s no killjoy. If anything, she’s fond of the aristocratic past, snarks at “behemoths that churn out perfume like Kraft makes cheese” and is too credulous of fashionistas’ towering egos. Despite her grasp of business machinations, her argument that conglomerates have stolen luxury’s soul doesn’t entirely wash. As her tales of quotidian vs. ultra luxury make clear, the rich and chic can still distinguish themselves, even when Las Vegas hosts the world’s ritziest brands. Thomas might have delved deeper into why fashion labels inspire such mania, beyond “selling dreams,” but her curiosity is contagious. (Aug.)”
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