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Many progressive Frenchmen would dearly like to see more business leaders like Arnault. Born in Roubaix, in northern France, he graduated from Paris' elite Ecole Polytechnique with a degree in engineering. Perhaps because of their rigid educational system, the French tend to produce civil servants and middle managers, but entrepreneurial brains who would enliven the business climate are few. The success of Arnault, who spent three years working on real estate deals in Florida during the Socialist reign of Francois Mitterrand, has stirred up resentment and distrust among his peers.
To them, Arnault has broken the rules. A former LVMH executive marvels, "He is ferocious, but remarkable in that he realized that he could ignore convention without ill effects to himself. At that time there were things that were not necessarily illegal, but that weren't done. The practices that should have excluded him from the business world in fact made him one of its pillars."
A good deal of this censure has to do with Arnault's "ferocious" approach in acquiring luxury-goods companies, many of which were family owned, by splitting the opposition--that is, stepping in on the side of one of two disagreeing partners and later eliminating the survivor. He did that in 1985, taking over the bankrupt firm of Boussac, which owned Dior. At the time, he promised to expand Boussac and preserve jobs; instead he shut it down, having extracted the part he wanted.
Dior is the jewel in Arnault's crown, and he has entrusted the brash Galliano with polishing it. He says, "I love bringing young talents to the heart of an old house. Galliano has special links to Dior that you can feel: in design, style, romanticism and femininity. Of course, it is sometimes shocking--but fashion means something new."
Galliano's approach has been high drama all the way. For his part, Galliano is terse: "I think long term, and Mr. Arnault is thinking long term with me. He has given this place a complete dusting in the last couple of years"--presumably to make way for the young prince who Arnault believes will be a second Dior.
If the 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."
McQueen should 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. If it means clearing the land to make a new garden, then he'll chop away. And he loves a fight."