Shiraz Mehra, MBA in International Luxury Brand Management 2015-2016, India
The annual International New York Times
Luxury Conference came back to luxury’s roots this year: spanning three days,
the conference gave attendees the chance to mix, mingle, and learn from some of
the industry’s leading figures in the opulent setting of the Trianon Palace in
Versailles.
Day 1 started with beautiful opening
remarks from Stephen Dunbar-Johnson, President of the INYT, who spoke movingly
about the attacks on Paris last November, and of Vanessa Friedman’s concerted
efforts to keep the conference in Paris. He also touched on some of the broader
themes from the agenda: the concerns of unrelenting consumerism and
sustainability, the need for luxury companies to embrace digital innovation,
and the pulling together of the industry after tragedy. His opening remarks were
followed by a touching video from Anne Hidalgo, the Mayor of Paris, whose remarks
echoed the theme of this year’s conference – “Values Beyond Product” – as she
spoke of the special relationship between Paris and the luxury industry. “You
can count on Paris”, she intoned, to stirring applause from the room.
The day moved on swiftly, first to a short
introduction from Vanessa Friedman, the NYT’s Fashion Director and Chief
Fashion Critic, and then to the morning’s keynote speech from Maureen Chiquet, former
CEO of Chanel. Chiquet is notable for having been one of the few women in a leadership
position in the luxury industry, and so it was especially valuable to hear her
advice for leadership: not to ignore those qualities typically considered more
“feminine”, to listen to history, your team, customers, to be curious, and to
lead with empathy. “What is precious in this world is changing”, she said, and
these are powerful words to consider for luxury: a reminder that flexibility
and agility are valuable assets in a dynamic world.
The first panel of the day was also one of
the most controversial: moderated by Roger Cohen, Bernard Kouchner, Nouriel
Roubini, and Nader Mousavizadeh discussed contemporary issues outside the
luxury industry and the effects within the industry. The panel was a very
timely, and welcome, reminder that there is a wider world outside what
sometimes seems like a luxury bubble: the panel touched on the war in Syria and
the refugee crisis, the world’s failure to adequately address what is happening
as a result, fears of terrorism, and the upcoming US elections, to name but a
few. The discussion brought quite a few questions from the audience as well,
but the take-away from the panel was clear: in a world where luxury is widely
perceived to be the domain of the 1%, the members of the luxury industry cannot
ignore or forget the larger context in which we survive.
After a short break, the discussions
continued, first with a keynote from Gucci CEO Marco Bizzarri, who spoke at
length about one of the fashion industry’s hottest names, Alessandro Michele,
and his reinvention of the classic Gucci logo. Is the logo really over? No,
said Bizzarri, and then ‘no, but –‘. Bizzarri’s speech echoed some of the
things that had been said earlier in the day: logos are powerful brand symbols,
and cannot be left behind or ignored. But to maintain the dream factor that is
so essential for a luxury brand, reinvention is a requirement, and a brand
cannot rest on its laurels and assume that what worked for ten years previously
will work for another ten. The panel that followed discussed this at length:
Andrew Keith of Hong Kong’s luxury multibrand powerhouse Lane Crawford and
Maurice Lévy of the Publicis group joined Mr. Bizzarri for a lively discussion
on the reimagining traditional motifs, how new blood invigorates heritage
brands, and a short segment on the problem of designers leaving maisons after
only a few years.
The final session before the lunch break
was one of the more contemporary sessions of the day: Vanessa Friedman
moderated a discussion with director Luca Guadagnino and Acne Studios co-owner
and chairman Mikael Schiller on reimagining the aesthetic environment.
Attendees were first treated to a lengthy look at a scene from Guadagnino’s
upcoming A Bigger Splash. The panel
that followed considered a very interesting question: can a scene or a physical
space have an aesthetic so identifiable that the vision of it is enough to
inspire desire? Schiller and Guadagnino came at the idea from very different
perspectives - from retail spaces and the shopfloor to the silver screen – but
their perspectives were similar: that in working outside the common creative
capitals, they were creating their own aesthetics, and the only way to create
successfully is to create with authenticity.
