奢侈品帝國穿羊絨外套的狼正在改變

High above the luxury shopping utopia that is the Avenue Montaigne in Paris, Bernard Arnault, the 65-year old chairman and chief executive of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, was sitting in a wood-paneled conference room and smiling. Really smiling: eyes crinkled, teeth agleam. You might even say he was grinning.

路威酩軒集團(LVMH)的主席、首席執行官貝爾納·阿爾諾(Bernard Arnault)微笑着坐在蒙田大道這個奢侈購物烏托邦高層的鑲木會議室裏。65歲的他真的在微笑：我能看到他眼角的皺紋和閃亮的牙齒。你甚至可以說他在咧嘴笑。

It was slightly disconcerting. Mr. Arnault’s face is known all over Europe, but its expression is normally one of poker-faced impassivity, eyes dark under heavy gray brows. At an imposing 6-foot-1, and always clad impeccably in a dark suit, he is as mythical — and as feared and admired — as Steve Jobs was in the United States. For years, Mr. Arnault was referred to as “the wolf in the cashmere coat.”

這有點令人不安。阿爾諾的面孔在歐洲家喻戶曉，但他通常面無表情，黑色的眼睛隱藏在深灰色的眉毛下面。他身高6.1英尺，儀表堂堂，總是穿着無可挑剔的黑色西服，他神祕、令人敬畏，就像史蒂夫·喬布斯(Steve Jobs)在美國給人的感覺。多年來，人們把阿爾諾稱爲“穿着羊絨外套的狼”。

The first of the luxury titans, he built LVMH into the largest luxury conglomerate in the world, owner of more than 60 brands including Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, Givenchy, Fendi and Bulgari. Along the way, he became the richest man in France, with a net worth of $29.5 billion, according to Forbes. A confidant of the powerful, he was a witness at Nicolas Sarkozy’s wedding to Carla Bruni in 2008 and was made an honorary Knight of the British Empire. And yet, on a sunny afternoon in July, he was looking less like a calculating globe-trotting billionaire than a child in thrall to a wonderful new toy. Which he kind of was.

他是最早的奢侈品巨頭之一，把路威酩軒打造成世界上最大的奢侈品企業集團，擁有60多個品牌，包括路易威登(Louis Vuitton)、馬克·雅可布(Marc Jacobs)、紀梵希(Givenchy)、芬迪(Fendi)和寶格麗(Bulgari)等。據《福布斯》(Forbes)說，他因此成爲法國最富有的人，淨資產達295億美元。他是權勢人物的密友，2008年見證了尼古拉·薩科齊(Nicolas Sarkozy)和卡拉·布呂尼(Carla Bruni)婚禮，還曾獲得大英帝國榮譽爵士勳章。但是，在7月份一個陽光燦爛的下午，他看起來不太像深謀遠慮、周遊世界的億萬富翁，而更像個被絕妙新玩具迷住的孩子。他或多或少曾是這樣的孩子。

The toy is a contemporary art museum and performance space: the Fondation Louis Vuitton, a sinuous, 126,000-square-foot glass and steel structure designed by Frank Gehry and tucked away in the Bois de Boulogne of Paris. Mr. Arnault has spent the last decade making the FLV a reality — it opens to the public this month — at a reported cost of more than $135 million.

這個玩具是一個當代藝術博物館和表演空間：路易威登基金會(Fondation Louis Vuitton)。這個彎曲的、12.6萬平方英尺的玻璃鋼結構建築是弗蘭克·蓋裏(Frank Gehry)設計的，隱藏在巴黎的布洛涅森林公園(Bois de Boulogne)。阿爾諾花了十年時間才使路易威登基金會成爲現實，據說花了1.35多億美元。該基金會本月開始向公衆開放。

In his private conference room, however, surrounded by works of Andy Warhol and Picasso, Mr. Arnault was reluctant to tally the costs. “We don’t speak of numbers when we speak of a dream,” he said, gazing down at some photographs of the museum. “Let’s just say it is a very expensive sculpture.”

但是，在阿爾諾的私人會議室裏——四周是安迪·沃霍爾(Andy Warhol)和畢加索(Picasso)的作品——他不願透露基金會的成本。“我們談論夢想的時候不談金錢，”他一邊說一邊低頭凝視該博物館的一些照片，“我們就稱它爲一個非常昂貴的雕塑吧。”

But, of course, it is more than that. Built to house the contemporary art collection of LVMH (including works by Jeff Koons and Gilbert & George) as well as pieces from Mr. Arnault’s personal collection, the FLV may be the most ambitious, and potentially controversial, new structure in Paris since I. M. Pei’s pyramid landed in the Louvre in 1989. And because the new museum sits on land that belongs to a public park, in 55 years it reverts to the city.

不過它的價值當然不只如此。修建路易威登基金會是爲了存放路威酩軒集團的當代藝術收藏品（包括傑夫·昆斯[Jeff Koons]和吉爾伯特&喬治[Gilbert & George]的作品）以及阿爾諾的一些私人藏品。它可能是繼1989年貝律銘的盧浮宮金字塔之後巴黎最有野心、最具爭議的新建築。由於這個新博物館所在的土地屬於一個公園，55年後它將歸還給這座城市。

It is, in other words, a very expensive gift. One that, like so many gifts, has implications for the recipients as well as the company that gave it.

換句話說，它是一個非常昂貴的禮物。和很多禮物一樣，對贈予者和受贈者來說都有深刻意義。

“I hope that it will make the group more understood, to show its extraordinary values to the public,” Mr. Arnault said.

“我希望它能向公衆展示集團的非凡價值，讓他們更理解我們，”阿爾諾說。

The museum gives physical shape to the sentiments often voiced by LVMH executives: that the company is a place of creativity and a preserver of heritage. As such, it is the crowning expression of an LVMH effort to shift the conversation around the business group away from that of a predatory, bottom-line-oriented conglomerate toward something more benevolent. It began with an initiative called Open Days in 2011, in which 25 brands as varied as Dior and Dom Pérignon threw open their normally closed ateliers to the public. In 2013, the company began to sponsor the LVMH Young Fashion Designer Prize, the largest award to a new designer, and this year LVMH created a series of degree programs and paid internships in conjunction with professional schools aimed at creating a new generation of craftspeople.

這個博物館的外形傳遞出路威酩軒集團的管理者們經常表達的感受：這家公司是創新之地，也是傳統的保護者。因此，它集中體現出路威酩軒集團努力想改變公衆對它的看法——不是掠奪成性、一味追求利潤的企業集團，而是一個更慈善的機構。它始於2011年的一個名爲開放日(Open Days)的活動——迪奧(Dior)和唐培裏儂(Dom Pérignon)等25個品牌把通常關閉的工作室向公衆開放。2013年，該公司開始舉辦路威酩軒年輕時裝設計師獎(LVMH Young Fashion Designer Prize)，它是面向新設計師的最高獎項。今年，路威酩軒集團開設了一系列學位課程，並與職業學校聯合提供帶薪實習，旨在培養新一代手工藝人。

These projects reflect an evolution within the luxury industry itself, in which competition for consumers, acquisitions and talent is fierce. And the “character” of companies is increasingly important. In this context, said Will Hutchings, an executive director at Goldman Sachs, the museum is “very long-term thinking.”

這些項目反映出奢侈品行業本身的變化。由於對顧客和人才的競爭以及兼併更加激烈，公司的“品質”變得越來越重要。高盛投資公司(Goldman Sachs)的執行理事威爾·哈欽斯(Will Hutchings)說，放在這個大環境中看，修建這個博物館是“是很有遠見的做法”。

Jean-Paul Claverie, who has run LVMH’s philanthropic initiatives for more than two decades, said the FLV was aimed at producing “not economic returns but emotional ones.”

二十多年來負責路威酩軒集團慈善項目的讓-保羅·克拉夫利(Jean-Paul Claverie)說，路易威登基金會追求的不是“經濟回報，而是情感回報”。

Of course, the two are not entirely unrelated.

當然，這兩者並不是完全沒有關係。

Gaining ‘Nobility’

獲得“尊貴感”

The luxury business is changing. As consumers have experienced what Bain & Company calls “logo fatigue,” growth for brands including Gucci, Prada and Vuitton has slowed. The conventional wisdom was that consumers cared about obvious aspirational signifiers like name and price; the new view is that they now care about the less apparent marks of connoisseurship: handwork and craft. “If the 20th century was about manufacturing,” said Michael Burke, the chief executive of Louis Vuitton, “the 21st century will be about intangibles” — concern for preservation, heritage, the environment.

奢侈品行業在變化。消費者經歷了貝恩諮詢公司(Bain & Company)所說的“標識疲倦”，因此古馳(Gucci)、普拉達(Prada)和路易威登等品牌的增長都放緩了。傳統觀念認爲，消費者關注的是品牌和價格等明顯的成功標誌；現在人們發現，消費者關注的是不那麼明顯的鑑賞力標誌：手工藝。“如果說20世紀是關於生產的，”路易威登的首席執行官邁克爾·伯克(Michael Burke)說，“那21世紀將是關於無形資產的”——對保護、遺產和環境的關注。

Mr. Hutchings said that “there was a period where it didn’t matter what you sold, as long as you were focused on China.” But in 2013, overall luxury sales in China grew by only 4 percent, according to Bain, versus 19 percent in 2012, largely because of a corruption crackdown instigated by the new administration in Beijing and retail saturation.

哈欽斯說，“有一段時間，你賣什麼都無關緊要，只要你往中國賣就行。”但是貝恩諮詢公司稱，2013年中國的奢侈品總銷量僅增長了4%，與2012年的19%相比降低了很多，主要是由於中國新任領導發起的反腐行動以及零售飽和。

“The sophisticated consumer became a bit disappointed in luxury as it strove for ubiquity,” said Claudia D’Arpizio, a Bain partner based in Milan.

“奢侈品在努力讓自己無所不在，而高端消費者卻開始對它有點失望，”克勞迪婭·達皮茲奧(Claudia D’Arpizio)說。她是貝恩諮詢公司在米蘭的一個合作者。

LVMH, for example, had 3,384 stores around the world across all of its brands at the end of 2013, up from 1,693 10 years ago.

例如，到2013年底，路威酩軒集團的所有品牌在全球有3384家店鋪，比十年前的1693家店增加了很多。

“You can’t keep opening stores,” Mr. Hutchings said, “so you have to think about exactly how you are engaging with the consumer.” He added: “The new model is representing something a whole lot deeper and more meaningful to consumers.”

“你不可能一直開新店，”哈欽斯說，“你必須仔細想想如何與消費者建立聯繫。”他補充說：“新模式是向消費者展示一種更深刻、更有意義的東西。”

As a result, a new front has opened in the luxury wars, with the names stitched inside handbags now also chiseled on cultural institutions. In Italy alone, Tod’s, the Italian luxury group, is underwriting the restoration of the Colosseum for 25 million euros, or $31.7 million; LVMH’s Fendi is spending 2 million for restoration of the Trevi Fountain; Versace is helping to restore Milan’s Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II; and Salvatore Ferragamo pitched in at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

結果，奢侈品大戰有了新戰線，縫在手袋裏面的名字如今也被鐫刻在文化機構上。單是在意大利，奢侈品集團Tod’s正斥資2500萬歐元（約合3170萬美元）修復羅馬競技場；路威酩軒集團旗下的芬迪公司正花費200萬歐元修復許願池；範思哲(Versace)正幫助修復米蘭的埃馬努埃萊二世拱廊(Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II)；薩瓦託·菲拉格慕(Salvatore Ferragamo)參與修復佛羅倫薩的烏菲茲美術館(Uffizi Gallery)。

“Consumers buy luxury goods products as a way to ennoble themselves; luxury goods companies and brands can earn more ‘nobility’ by associating their names to art and masterpieces,” said Luca Solca, the head of luxury goods analysis at Exane BNP Paribas. “Adding nobility to brands is conducive to increasing their appeal.”

“消費者購買奢侈品是爲了讓自己顯得高貴；奢侈品公司和品牌能通過把自己與藝術和傑作聯繫在一起而獲得更多‘尊榮’，”巴黎銀行的奢侈品分析主管盧卡·索爾卡(Luca Solca)說，“給品牌增加高貴感有助於增加吸引力。”

LVMH’s greatest rival, the former PPR, went so far as to rename itself as Kering (pronounced as “caring”) last year, to symbolize a transformation from business opportunist to committed company. It established the Kering Foundation for women, and embarked on a very public sustainability drive, posting an environmental “profit and loss statement” on its website.

去年，路威酩軒集團最大的對手，前巴黎春天集團(PPR)甚至更名爲開雲集團（Kering，它的發音接近“caring”[關心]），以表明自己從商業投機者轉變爲一個負責任的公司。它爲女性設立了開雲基金(Kering Foundation)，並且開始了非常公開的可持續性努力，在網站上發佈環境“損益表”。

All of this halo-associating behavior is occurring as luxury has become more enticing as a sector. In the depths of the recession, the luxury market grew by 5 percent worldwide, according to Goldman Sachs, and is one of the few European industrial success stories of recent years. Not surprisingly, investors see potential returns, and have created additional competition for LVMH. Today, the company vies for brands and creative talent not just with peers like Kering and Richemont, but also with private equity firms like Yucaipa (which has stakes in Barneys and Zac Posen) and players from the Middle East and Asia. The Qatar Investment Authority owns Harrods as well as minority stakes in Tiffany and Porsche. And the Hong Kong-based Fung Group, through its private equity vehicle First Heritage Brands, owns Sonia Rykiel, Robert Clergerie and Delvaux.

所有這些與光環相聯繫的行爲都是在奢侈品成爲一個更誘人的行業後出現的。據高盛投資公司統計，在經濟衰退的深淵中，奢侈品市場的全球增長率達5%，是近些年歐洲少有的繁榮行業之一。不出所料，投資者們看到了潛在的回報，給路威酩軒集團增加了額外的競爭。如今，該公司不僅要和開雲集團、歷峯集團(Richemont)等同輩爭奪品牌和創意人才，還要和尤凱帕（Yucaipa，它持有巴尼斯百貨公司[Barneys]和扎克·珀森[Zac Posen]的股份）等私募股權公司以及來自中東和亞洲的玩家們競爭。卡塔爾投資局(Qatar Investment Authority)除了擁有哈羅德百貨公司(Harrods)，還持有蒂芙尼(Tiffany)和保時捷(Porsche)公司的少數股份。香港的馮氏集團通過其私募股權公司利標品牌控制索尼亞·裏基爾(Sonia Rykiel)、羅伯特·克萊熱裏(Robert Clergerie)和德爾沃(Delvaux)。

Though few companies have the deep pockets of LVMH, which bought Bulgari in 2011 for $5.2 billion, it does not take much to buy the smaller, younger labels that provide buzz and interest — and potential design talent to take over bigger brands in the future. Hugh Devlin, a lawyer based in London who has negotiated a variety of sales to LVMH and Kering, said the average price for such a house is merely “in the seven figures.”

雖然沒多少公司像路威酩軒集團這樣財力雄厚——它在2011年以52億美元買下了寶格麗——但是購買能引起轟動和興趣的年輕小品牌或者聘請有潛力的設計人才在未來掌管更大的品牌不需要花很多錢。休·德夫林(Hugh Devlin)是倫敦的一位律師，曾參與路威酩軒集團和開雲集團的一些收購談判，他說這種年輕小品牌的平均價格只有“幾百萬”。

As LVMH and Kering — which owns Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and other brands — strive to bolster sectors like watches and jewelry or to better balance their holdings across geographic markets, such smaller acquisitions are necessarily part of the strategy. But the question for a business being courted by several buyers is not so much “Can you afford us?” as “Who do we like best?” In that context, “linking to culture is a very powerful tool,” said Ms. D’Arpizio at Bain. “You are dealing largely with entrepreneurs who want their brand to survive them and last into the future, and culture is all about preserving that for the future.”

路威酩軒集團和開雲集團——後者擁有古馳和伊夫·聖羅蘭(Yves Saint Laurent)等品牌——努力支持手錶和珠寶等分支，或者讓資產更均衡地分佈在世界各地，所以這樣的小型收購必然是發展戰略的一部分。但是被幾個買家追求的公司不太考慮“你能給我們多少錢？”，而是“我們最喜歡誰？”貝恩諮詢公司的達皮茲奧說，在那種情況下，“與文化相聯繫是個非常有用的方法”，“你主要是在跟一些想讓自己的品牌長久存活下去的企業家打交道，而文化就是關於傳承至未來的。”

Certainly, this is part of the LVMH pitch. Consider a story told by Mr. Arnault in July: “Steve Jobs once asked me for some advice about retail, but I said, ‘I am not sure at all we are in the same business.’ I don’t know if we will still use Apple products in 25 years, but I am sure we will still be drinking Dom Pérignon.”

當然，這是路威酩軒集團最擅長的一點。想想今年7月阿爾諾講的一個故事：“史蒂夫·喬布斯曾讓我提供一些關於零售的建議，我說，‘我不太確定我們是在同一個行業。’我不知道25年後我們是否還會使用蘋果公司(Apple)的產品，但我確信我們還在喝唐培裏儂香檳。”

Technology is predicated on change; luxury, however, is predicated on heritage and connection to tradition.

技術基於變化；而奢侈品基於傳承以及與傳統的聯繫。

And yet benign protectionism is not necessarily a concept generally associated with Mr. Arnault and the company he built. In fact, it’s more the opposite.

不過，人們不一定把善良的保護主義與阿爾諾和他建立的公司聯繫在一起。實際上，人們的看法大多與此相反。

Corporate-Raider Image

公司入侵者形象

To understand the conflicted attitude toward Mr. Arnault in the fashion world, you have to go back to 1984, when, after a sojourn in the United States, he returned to France and bought out of bankruptcy a textile company, Boussac, which owned a hidden jewel, Christian Dior. A few years later, acting on the theory that luxury brands — basically a bunch of family businesses — needed to become an industry to thrive in a globalized world, he saw opportunity in LVMH, then run by squabbling families. After a bruising corporate battle, he ended up not only winning the company but also a reputation as something of a barbarian at the gilded gates.

要理解時尚界對阿爾諾的矛盾態度，必須從1984年講起，他在美國短暫停留後回到法國，買下瀕臨破產的紡織品公司布薩克(Boussac)，這家公司擁有一個隱藏的珍寶——克里斯蒂安·迪奧(Christian Dior)。幾年後，他認爲，在全球化的世界上，奢侈品牌要想興旺必須成爲產業，而當時的奢侈品牌基本上都是家族生意。基於這個理論，他在路威酩軒公司看到了機會，當時這家公司由幾個爭吵不休的家族經營。在激烈的公司鬥爭之後，他贏得了這家公司，也獲得了豪門野蠻人的惡名。

“France has a complicated relationship to success,” said Mr. Burke, who has worked with Mr. Arnault since that time. “Just think about the fact the expression ‘to make money’ does not exist in France. You ‘gagner l’argent’; you win money — the implication being either you are taking it away from someone by beating them, or you didn’t deserve it. And in France, Bernard Arnault epitomizes making money.”

“法國人對成功的理解很複雜，”伯克說。他從那時起就和阿爾諾一起工作了。“你想想，法語不說‘賺錢’，只說‘贏錢’(gagner l’argent)——意思是除非你打敗別人，把錢從他們手裏拿走，否則你得不到錢。在法國，貝爾納·阿爾諾成爲賺錢的代表。”

The corporate-raider image has survived over the decades in part because Mr. Arnault never made much effort to retire it, and in part because those on the other side were strategic about promoting it. LVMH has been careful to keep many family owners who sold to it involved in its business, including Laudomia Pucci of Pucci and Pier Luigi Loro Piana of the Italian luxury textile brand Loro Piana. But the company is nevertheless widely perceived as swooping in when it senses weakness with a seductive offer to buy.

公司入侵者的形象伴隨阿爾諾幾十年，一方面是因爲阿爾諾從未努力擺脫它，另一方面是因爲他的對手們從戰略上宣傳它。路威酩軒集團一直注意讓很多收購來的家族企業的所有者參與到經營中來，包括璞琪(Pucci)的勞德迷亞·璞琪( Laudomia Pucci)和意大利奢侈紡織品品牌洛羅·皮雅納(Loro Piana)的皮耶爾·路易吉·洛羅·皮雅納(Pier Luigi Loro Piana)。不過，當該公司看到一個公司的弱點，提出誘人的條件購買時，給人的普遍感覺是乘虛而入。

Add to this the fact that Mr. Arnault sees his role as ensuring the future of brands, but not necessarily the designers behind them — a crucial distinction. As a result, whenever he makes a controversial play for a company, the predator image becomes part of the fight.

除此之外，阿爾諾認爲自己的責任是確保這些品牌擁有未來，而這些品牌背後的設計師他就不一定管了，這是一個重要區別。結果，只要他爲了某個公司做出有爭議的舉動，他的捕食者形象就成了爭鬥的一部分。

This was nowhere more true than when LVMH quietly acquired 14 percent of the stock of Hermès International in October 2010 via previously undisclosed equity swaps, then increased its stake to 23 percent in the next few months. The move shocked the fashion world, which deemed Hermès the purest example of craft over commerce, and which immediately smelled a takeover attempt — denied by LVMH. The families that owned Hermès and its management quickly jumped on Mr. Arnault’s reputation. In 2011, Patrick Thomas, then the chief executive of Hermès, said of the stock purchase: “If you want to seduce a beautiful woman, you don’t start by raping her from behind.” As recently as last June, the new Hermès chief executive, Axel Dumas, labeled LVMH an “unwelcome shareholder.”

這一點最明顯的表現是2010年10月，路威酩軒集團通過之前沒有公佈的股權互換悄悄獲得了愛馬仕國際公司(Hermès International)14%的股票，然後在接下來的幾個月裏把股權增長到23%。這一舉動震驚了時尚界，他們認爲愛馬仕是工藝大於商業的典型例子，而且很快感受到路威酩軒集團的收購企圖，雖然路威酩軒否認了這一點。掌控愛馬仕的幾個家族以及它的管理者們很快開始指責阿爾諾。2011年，愛馬仕的首席執行官帕特里克·托馬斯(Patrick Thomas)這樣評價路威酩軒集團的股票購買行爲：“如果你想誘惑一個美女，你不能先從後面強姦她。”去年6月，愛馬仕的新任首席執行官阿克塞爾·杜馬(Axel Dumas)稱路威酩軒集團爲“不受歡迎的股東”。

The ugly fight was settled in September, when a French court engineered a settlement under which Mr. Arnault agreed to distribute the LVMH-owned Hermès shares to his shareholders, retaining an 8.5 percent stake.

這場難看的爭鬥今年9月得以解決，在一個法國法院的主導下，阿爾諾同意和解，把路威酩軒集團持有的愛馬仕股票分發給他的股東們，自己只保留8.5%的股權。

The Hermès ordeal alerted LVMH to the need to focus on the image of the company as a whole, said Antoine Arnault, Mr. Arnault’s oldest son, who, with his sister Delphine Arnault, is taking a prominent role in the company. Hermès, the younger Mr. Arnault said, “benefited from the opposite image, the perception that they are not financial at all, but have an artisans-in-their-garden thing.”

阿爾諾的長子安託萬·阿爾諾(Antoine Arnault)說，愛馬仕一事的嚴峻經歷讓路威酩軒集團意識到需要注意公司的整體形象。他和姐姐戴爾芬·阿爾諾(Delphine Arnault)在集團裏扮演重要角色。安託萬說，愛馬仕“受益於相反的形象，人們認爲他們一點都不關心金錢，但花園裏有手工藝人”。

Even Bernard Arnault acknowledges that LVMH has not really tended to its corporate brand image. “We never communicated on the group, except for the financials,” he said. Marketing has been handled brand by brand, with the LVMH group presenting as a unit only during its quarterly financial reporting periods.

甚至連貝爾納·阿爾諾也承認，路威酩軒集團沒有真正注意自己的公司品牌形象。“我們從不以集團身份進行溝通，除了在財務方面，”他說。市場推廣都是按品牌進行的，只有在提供季度財務報告時，集團才以一個整體出現。

He was somewhat reluctant to make the shift. “I am not a politician, and I am not trying to convince a crowd to vote for me,” he said. “I want to talk about our brands, not us or the group.”

他不太願意做出改變。“我不是政治家，我不是在努力說服民衆投票給我，”他說，“我想談論的是我們的品牌，而不是我們或者這個集團。”

But whether he likes it or not, Mr. Arnault symbolizes the company he built as clearly as any logo. As Robert Burke, the founder of the luxury consulting firm Robert Burke Associates, said, today “groups are brands in themselves, and there is no staying behind the scenes.”

但是不管阿爾諾喜歡與否，和任何品牌標識一樣，他代表着自己建立的公司。就像奢侈品諮詢公司羅伯特·伯克聯合公司(Robert Burke Associates)的創始人羅伯特·伯克說的，如今“集團本身就是品牌，不可能只待在幕後。”

New Image, New Generation

新形象，新一代

“The first Open Days were, to be honest, a reaction I had toward a sort of bad feeling and wrong image of the group and my father in the public eye,” said Antoine Arnault, speaking of the initiative to invite the public into the workshops of LVMH’s brands.

“坦白地說，第一次舉辦開放日活動是因爲我想回應公衆對集團和我父親的反感和錯誤印象，”安託萬·阿爾諾在談到邀請公衆參觀該集團品牌工作室的活動時說。

“During the whole thing with Hermès, it started seriously annoying me, because what I saw every day in hundreds of meetings a year showed me the exact opposite,” he continued. “So I thought, ‘Why not open up and be transparent about who we are?’ ”

“在與愛馬仕的整個事件中，這真的開始煩擾我，因爲我每年參加上百次會議，我每天在這些會議上看到的是相反的情況，”他繼續說道，“所以當時我想，‘爲什麼不透明一些，讓公衆看看我們的真實面貌?’

It is no coincidence that LVMH’s charm offensive coincided with the rise of the eldest of Bernard Arnault’s children — Antoine, now 37, and Delphine, 39, both from his first marriage — within LVMH. Antoine became chief executive of the men’s wear brand Berluti in 2010 after a stint as head of communications at Louis Vuitton; he is also chairman of Loro Piana. Delphine was named executive vice president of Louis Vuitton last year; previously she was deputy managing director at Christian Dior. Both serve on the LVMH board. Mr. Arnault also has three younger children from his current marriage; two of those children are interning at the company.

路威酩軒集團發起魅力攻勢之時，正是貝爾納·阿爾諾的一些年長的子女——37歲的安託萬和39歲的戴爾芬，他們都是他第一次婚姻中的孩子——在集團中的地位不斷上升之際，這不是巧合。安託萬在短暫擔任路易威登的溝通總監之後，2010年成爲男裝品牌伯爾魯帝(Berluti)的首席執行官；他同時擔任洛羅·皮雅納的主席。戴爾芬去年被任命爲路易威登的執行副總裁；之前她是迪奧(Christian Dior)的副總經理。兩位都是路威酩軒集團的董事。阿爾諾目前的婚姻中有三個年齡較小的孩子；其中兩個正在集團實習。

Tickets to the Open Days were free, but needed to be reserved online. In its first year, 2011, the 6,000 spaces for Louis Vuitton’s workshop in Asnières were spoken for within 90 seconds of release; those for the Christian Dior Couture atelier went in three minutes. From Paris to Poland, where Belvedere vodka is based, some 100,000 people attended the first open-atelier weekend. Last year, the total was 120,000, and a third weekend is planned for 2015.

開放日的門票是免費的，但是需要在網上預約。2011年第一次舉辦開放日活動時，路易威登阿涅爾工作室的6000個參觀名額在發佈後90秒內被約完；迪奧高級定製工作室的參觀名額在三分鐘內約滿。在第一次開放日活動的週末，共有約十萬人從巴黎趕往波蘭參觀雪樹伏特加(Belvedere)的工廠，去年的參觀人數達12萬，第三次活動計劃2015年舉辦。

While the Open Days exposed the buying public to the people actually creating branded luxury goods, the Young Fashion Designer’s Prize has a different audience. Bestowed on promising designers, the award includes 300,000 and a year of mentoring from an LVMH executive.

開放日活動是爲了讓買家們看到那些真正製作奢侈品的人，而年輕時裝設計師獎面對的是另一批觀衆。該獎項授予那些有前途的設計師，包括30萬歐元的獎金和路威酩軒集團執行官的一年指導。

Ms. Arnault is the force behind the prize, and the initiative has put her forward as a friendlier face of LVMH to a generation of potential employees. This year, 30 semifinalists from nine countries, including India, Nigeria and Ukraine, received an all-expenses-paid trip to Paris fashion week and a chance to exhibit their lines and meet with big names in fashion, including designers like Karl Lagerfeld and Nicolas Ghesquière, as well as the Arnaults.

戴爾芬是該獎項的幕後推手，對新一代潛在僱員來說，這一舉動令她成爲該集團更友善的面孔。今年，來自九個國家的30名入圍設計師可以參加巴黎時裝週，有機會展示自己的服裝系列，與時裝界的大人物會面，包括卡爾·拉格菲爾德(Karl Lagerfeld)、尼古拉斯·蓋斯奇埃爾(Nicolas Ghesquière)和阿爾諾家族成員，一切費用由該集團承擔。這九個國家包括印度、尼日利亞和烏克蘭等。

The prize “changed a lot of perspectives about who they are, and how things are handled,” said Julie Gilhart, an independent consultant and member of the prize’s advisory board. “I think there may have been a hesitation about getting involved with LVMH before, but it has really broken down.”

獨立顧問、該獎項諮詢委員會成員朱莉·吉爾哈特(Julie Gilhart)說，這個獎項“改變了很多人們對這個集團的形象，以及他們的處事方式的看法”，“我覺得有些人本來可能不太願意與路威酩軒集團發生關係，但偏見真的被打破了”。

The increased prominence of Antoine and Delphine Arnault has also helped promote an image of LVMH — despite being a huge public company with 29.1 billion in revenue — as a family affair.

安託萬和戴爾芬·阿爾諾在集團中地位的逐步上升也有助於提高該集團的家族事業形象，儘管它是一個年收入291億歐元的龐大公司。

Raf Simons, a designer who joined Christian Dior Couture, which is also controlled by Mr. Arnault, as artistic director in 2012, said he was attracted to the job in part because “it’s a family company” — one of the first times Mr. Arnault’s brands have been described in such cozy terms. Mr. Ghesquière, the relatively new artistic director of Louis Vuitton, has echoed the sentiment. Ms. Arnault was involved in the recruitment of both designers.

拉夫·西蒙斯(Raf Simons)2012年開始擔任迪奧高級定製的藝術總監。他說自己喜歡這份工作的其中一個原因是“它是個家族公司”——這是阿爾諾的品牌首次被用如此溫馨的詞彙來描述。蓋斯奇埃爾是路易威登的新藝術總監，他也表達出這種感受。戴爾芬參與了這兩位設計師的招聘。

The new FLV museum and performance space, however, has the potential to reach a much broader group of people — one that goes beyond Europeans and designers. Given the importance of tourism to luxury spending in France, linking a must-see visitor destination with a luxury name has undeniably positive implications for LVMH brands.

新的路易威登基金會博物館和表演空間面向的不只是歐洲人和設計師，而是更廣闊的人羣。考慮到旅遊對法國奢侈品消費的重要性，把一個必看景點與該奢侈品集團聯繫在一起無疑對集團旗下的品牌具有正面暗示作用。

“It will show everyone who he really is,” Mr. Claverie said, suggesting that the FLV would reveal Mr. Arnault as someone who makes creativity happen, as opposed to a man who merely exploits and commoditizes it.

“它將向所有人展示他的真實一面，”克拉夫利說。他認爲，路易威登基金會將表明，貝爾納·阿爾諾是個讓創意成爲現實的人，而不是一味利用創意、把創意商品化的人。

Still, it is a mix of commercial and cultural imperatives that may sit uneasily with the French.

不過，它是商業和文化要素的混合物，法國人不一定會欣然接受。

“I told Mr. Arnault to be prepared for the fact that the French reaction, at least, will not be all positive,” Mr. Burke of Vuitton said. “I think we may get something along the lines of, ‘Who does he think he is to do this? It is not for business people to make these kinds of cultural statements!’ and so on.”

“我讓阿爾諾準備好面對法國人的反應，他們的反應至少不會全是正面的，”路易威登的伯克說，“我覺得可能有人會說，‘他以爲他是誰呀？商業人士不要來搞這種文化宣言！’等等。”

“At some point, though, France will adapt to it,” he continued. “Then they will accept it. And then they will love it.”

“不過，慢慢地，法國人會適應它，”他繼續說道，“然後會接受它，最後會愛上它。”

They have the time. As Bernard Arnault says, the building — and all it represents — “will outlive us all.”

他們有的是時間。就像貝爾納·阿爾諾說的，這座建築以及它所代表的一切“將比我們所有人存在得更長久”。