“The problem with LVMH is that it tends to behave like feudalism in Paris. Between Bois de Boulogne, Jardin d’Acclimatation, Champs Élysées, Samaritaine… We end up believing that we are above the rules. enough of what he calls the “privatization of Parisian public space” by the luxury group of French billionaire Bernard Arnault. Latest episode, which bristled even on the right: Pharrell Williams’ parade on the Pont Neuf for Louis Vuitton, a brand of the group, the third point of tension in less than a month on the question.
The Pont Neuf closed to traffic
Tuesday evening, many stars were invited to the famous Parisian bridge, the oldest in Paris, which crosses the Seine to the west of the Ile de la Cité. Rihanna, Kim Kardashian, Zendaya or singer Beyoncé and her husband rapper Jay-Z were among the 1,750 guests of the new artistic director of Louis Vuitton. It is for them and them only that the police headquarters had cut traffic on the bridge from Monday evening to Wednesday morning, as well as on the tangent quays on Tuesday evening.
“Yesterday the new bridge was privatized by LVMH for a fashion show, blocking the whole district. An operation from another time! Public space, which is common, is far too precious to be monopolized by a few multinationals and a handful of happy few,” protested David Belliard, ecologist and mobility assistant to the mayor of Paris, in a tweet the next day. “The guests were amazed. And the ears full of residents “Also tweeted the spokesperson for the Changer Paris group, mainly composed of elected Les Républicains.
Interviewed by 20 minutes, the mobility assistant develops: “The logic that we have defended is that of free public space. When we make a fan zone, these are accessible zones. The second thing – and I don’t have a problem with the fashion I’ve worked with [Pierre] Bank [fondateur avec Yves Saint Laurent de la maison de couture du même nom] – is that we are on an event that does not correspond to what we want to do, reserved for a band of happy few, and with 1,700 people who have gone back and forth with the United States. I assume the divergence with Emmanuel Grégoire. »
“It is an occupation of the public domain subject to a fee” which “brings revenue to the City”, replies the cabinet of the first deputy (PS) Emmanuel Grégoire, underlining the “exceptional” side of the event. “We asked for all the necessary authorizations for the least possible time. Fashion Wek is an important moment in terms of influence, they are sympathetic images of Paris and rewarding for the city”, we are told by LVMH.
An “advertising” statue in the center of Paris
A month earlier, it was a statue that was a stain. That of the artist Yayoi Kusama, nicknamed “the queen with polka dots”, erected in front of the Samaritaine, and which presented a woman dressed in clothes from the artist’s new collection for Louis Vuitton, holding the brand’s iconic bag, marked “LV”. An artist’s statue therefore, but clearly in honor of Louis Vuitton, and this, without any advertising fee being paid.
“Stop LVMH monopolizing public space to promote its products. Using art for illegal advertising is disrespectful of the artist and of Parisians. nes”, tweet then Emile Meunier on May 26. At the same time, the group Les Ecologistes filed a wish to the Council of Paris requesting that the city “put an end to the violation of the Local Advertising Regulations and request the payment of compensation by LVMH”.
The brand complied and had the logo removed, which had not been announced in the file presented to the city to obtain authorization. “We corrected with a lot of reactivity”, explains the LVMH group to 20 minutesconsidering that he had “invested a lot of money to renovate the Samaritaine district” and “permitted to revive the place, money not taken from the taxpayer”.
But for the environmental group, the situation is still not enough, because the bag, even without the logo, is “a product placement” according to Emile Meunier. “We are going to ask for a new legal consultation to see if there is no ticket even without a logo. And if the legal services consider that there is no violation, we will go to court to have this bag removed, ”comments the elected official. The group nevertheless withdrew its wish after obtaining the commitment of the town hall to create a working group to better regulate these practices.
A luxury restaurant on the Place du Louvre?
The petition launched on June 12 by the communist group at the Council of Paris in order to “oppose the privatization of the Place du Louvre by Bernard Arnault” is for its part still active. In question, a Letter A articlean investigative media, which claims that the president of the Louvre museum would have considered in small committee with the billionaire to install a gourmet restaurant there.
“The development of this forecourt would therefore be for the benefit of a luxury clientele, and not of all Parisians” deplores the petition, which has already collected more than 40,000 signatures. The text asks to “maintain this space in the public domain and [de] develop it for the benefit of all” and adapt it “to climate change through significant revegetation”. The day before, the socialist mayor of Paris Center denounced in a grandstand “the main promotion of lucrative interests, marked by the narrow ambition to install yet another luxury restaurant”.
But on the side of LVMH, we “formally” deny this information. “We don’t have any restaurant projects,” the group told 20 minutes. Same denial on the side of the Louvre museum, in the person of his chief of staff : “It seems important to me to tell you that no project to set up a luxury restaurant has ever been considered, nor any contact made in this regard. »
Restaurant or not, the boss of LVMH already has more than 350,000 square meters in the capital – the equivalent of 70 football fields, according to an investigation by the newspaper Politis. It has 170 shops and several media, such as Radio Classique, Le Parisien and Les Échos, and many political connections, which the elected Anne Biraben, architect and LR adviser in the 5th arrondissement, sums up in her own way in the magazine: “We sell Cutting Paris. »