Bernard Arnault

Spear’s Review                                                                                                    

Bernard Arnault is responsible for transforming the luxury goods industry from one based on small, family-run artisanal maisons into one dominated by multi-billion-pound global dream factories. 

Consistently towards the top of ‘world’s wealthiest’ lists, he is worth $197 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index as of August 2024. 

More than any other, Arnault has shaped notions of modern wealth and sophistication. LVMH, the luxury goods conglomerate he built over four decades and runs with his family, is the largest in the world, encompassing 75 brands. They include Louis Vuitton, Dior, Tiffany, Fendi, Givenchy, Loewe, Loro Piana, Acqua di Parma, TAG Heuer and Bulgari, plus Moët & Chandon and Dom Pérignon.

Before Tom Ford, before Karl Lagerfeld, Arnault understood that a status symbol is as much about what it represents as what it actually is. He set out to create products that, as he once told Harvard Business Review, ‘fulfil a fantasy. You feel you must buy it or you won’t be in the moment. You’ll be left behind.’

To bolster his vision, he created the flagship store-as-brand-temple, and pioneered the idea of installing buzzy young designers to give established labels modern cultural currency. He hired Marc Jacobs and Virgil Abloh at Louis Vuitton and masterminded Louis Vuitton’s collaboration with artists such as Takashi Murakami and cult streetwear brands, notably Supreme.   

Arnault says he figured out his strategy in New York in the Eighties when he got into a cab and discovered that his driver had never heard of de Gaulle but he knew Dior. His aggressive methods, taking over almost any brand he set his eyes on – except, much to his frustration, Gucci and Hermès – have earned him the nickname ‘the wolf in cashmere clothing’.

He suffered a rare setback in 2012 when it emerged that he had applied for a Belgian passport during the socialist administration of President François Hollande. He denied he was trying to avoid French taxes.

Arnault, 75, shows no signs of slowing down. LVMH partnered with the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games – jeweller Chaumet designed the Olympic medals, while Berluti dressed the French team from head to toe – and rumours abound as to which luxury brand LVMH might snap up next.