Word: arnault
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...rakish, high-flying Galliano was a shock to the French system, Alexander McQueen was even worse, especially when his first show was a medley of British bad taste. Arnault is unworried: "His shows were original and surprising, full of ideas. It's not easy for a young designer to adjust to this world...
...have a lot of time to make the adjustment. Christian Lacroix, the most accomplished of the LVMH designers, hasn't earned a sou for LVMH in 10 years. That may change soon; his very young Bazar line is breaking into the black. Lacroix, whose atelier is the only one Arnault started from scratch, is a sharp observer of his boss: "He needs to be convinced in his eye and his mind--it is essential." As to Arnault the businessman, Lacroix echoes the common opinion: "He loves the new, he loves to astonish and to be first with something...
...Arnault is usually depicted as a remote, chilly businessman, and in appearance he has a slightly academic rumple. But people in the design community tell another story, of dinners for 15 or so at the Arnaults' home in the elegant 16th arrondissement. There he relaxes and heads for the piano (favorite composer: Chopin). He calls himself an amateur pianist; he practices twice a week, still learning new pieces. His wife Helene is a concert pianist who has just finished a Canadian tour. "We once gave a concert together," Bernard recalls. "But once was enough--too much work." Mme. Arnault plays...
...when the serene ripples of Chopin fade away, it's back to the clangor of Arnault's other preoccupation, business. At the moment he is involved in a donnybrook with Robert W. Miller, a minority stockholder in the DFS Group Ltd., a duty-free retailer of leather goods and perfume, particularly LVMH's leather goods and perfumes. Arnault thought he had maneuvered around Miller by buying out his partners' 38.75% share for $1.6 billion. But Miller hung tough, declaring that "despite his promises, Bernard Arnault has a pattern of exploiting the assets of partially acquired companies for the benefit...
...Arnault isn't the type to dwell on such incomplete victories. There are other names on his shopping list, including the Paris jeweler Mauboussin, and perhaps Barneys, the bankrupt New York City retailer. The Barneys situation is particularly nasty, with lawsuits flying and all manner of unpleasantries exchanged among Barneys' owners, their landlord and assorted creditors. Yet Barneys remains the most excessively hip retailer in the country. It would seem like a deal tailor-made for the talents of Bernard Arnault...