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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 a different sort of duet with Bernard; Lacroix believes that often Arnault sees clothing through her eyes. They go shopping together most Saturdays. Where? At the Dior boutique on the Avenue Montaigne.
But 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 of LVMH with no concern for the best interests of minority shareholders." Alas, that's what Miller may become. For now, LVMH has announced it will manage DFS in partnership with him.
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.
--With reporting by Dorie Denbigh/Paris