Page 52 - Forbes - Asia (December 2019 - January 2020)
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from boiled animal parts). Arnault invited
McCartney, who in 2018 ended a 17-year
partnership with the Pinault family’s Kering
luxury group (owner of Gucci), to become
his “special advisor.” She accepted, despite
LVMH’s decision to continue making
products with leather and fur (and glue).
Arnault also declined to join the “Fashion
Pact,” led by Kering and signed by 32 apparel
makers, including Chanel, Hermès, fast-
fashion giant H&M and even McCartney,
pledging to lower carbon emissions.
Arnault then made his own series of
eco-gestures during Fashion Week, when
the media converged on Paris to cover the
shows. At Tuesday’s Dior show, where mod-
els paraded across a stage decorated with
170 trees in dirt-filled burlap bags, the press
was told that the theme was sustainability
and that the electricity at the event was pro-
duced with generators powered by cano-
la oil. The next evening, LVMH hosted 50
journalists for a two-and-a-half-hour event
at company headquarters. Arnault and ten
LVMH brand chiefs took turns on stage re-
citing their commitments to environmen-
tal stewardship, their presentations inter-
spersed with videos of models strutting
down catwalks and cashmere goats frolick-
ing on the Mongolian steppes.
Mid-event, Arnault was asked to share
his thoughts on young climate activists like
16-year-old Greta Thunberg. “I’m a natural
optimist,” he said, “unlike Greta, who has a
big problem, and that’s projecting an outra-
geous amount of pessimism in her messag-
es without any real solutions.” Not surprising
for a corporate titan, he prefers not to dwell
Four of Arnault’s five children work in corners of the LVMH empire.
Clockwise from top left: Alexandre, Antoine, Frédéric and Delphine. on problems. “He doesn’t like to hear the
word ‘no,’” says Anna Wintour, the longtime
Vogue editor. “It’s not part of his vocabulary.”
Last year, Louis Vuitton shuttered a store in Fort Lauder- McCartney is one of many big names he’s reeled in. In
dale, Florida, because adjacent shops and restaurants weren’t 2017, LVMH launched a cosmetics line, Fenty Beauty, with
ritzy enough. Arnault visited a property on the Champs-Ély- the pop star Rihanna, distributing the products through its CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: KARL LAGERFELD, MAZEN SAGGAR, KARL LAGERFELD, JEAN-FRANÇOIS ROBERT
sées multiple times before he approved a new Dior store near retail beauty chain Sephora’s 2,600 stores. Capitalizing on
the Arc de Triomphe that opened in July. “He pushes you to Fenty’s broad-audience offerings—its foundation comes in 40
really be sure,” Dior chief Beccari says. “He wants to challenge skin shades—and on its founder’s 77 million Instagram fol-
you, that’s his tactic.” lowers, the division will hit $550 million in sales this year,
Arnault says. He’s betting that Fenty Fashion, the apparel col-
howing up rivals is another tactic. In July, as apparel lection LVMH debuted with Rihanna in May, will meet with
brands were competing to see who could be the most similar success. “She brings a different vision of fashion,” Ar-
Seco-conscious, he announced a partnership with British nault says. “For the future, it’s very good for us to be connect-
fashion designer Stella McCartney (daughter of Paul), who ed to Millennials.”
has long touted her sustainability efforts (she says she even To keep his brands modern, he also looks to his five chil-
refuses to use glue in her sneaker line because it’s made dren from two marriages, four of whom work at LVMH: Del-
50 | FORBES ASIA DECEMBER 2019 / JANUARY 2020
