Riots in France over the weekend included the collapse of a clock tower in Limoges after the city’s 19th-century town hall was set on fire. Looters also stormed stores belonging to Celine, Hermès, Louis Vuitton and Saint Laurent, smashing display windows and taking goods. Of an estimated more than 3,000 shops affected, the destruction of luxury boutiques drew widespread attention.
The latest attacks came in the city that presents itself as the capital of luxury. In 2023, protesters attacked the LVMH headquarters on Avenue Montaigne in Paris and burned an effigy of Bernard Arnault. In 2019, Dior and Chanel stores on the Champs-Élysées were looted during Gilets Jaunes demonstrations. The current violence is the third physical attack on luxury brands in eight years.
Serge Carreira, director of the emerging brands initiative at the Fédération de la Haute Couture and an affiliated professor at Sciences Po, said France has a love-hate relationship with luxury. He argued that luxury brands’ relentless promotion through social media, celebrities, fashion shows and red carpets has made their products ubiquitous, even among people unable to afford them. By the same token, soaring prices have made the industry practically unattainable.
“Most of the younger generation feels excluded from this world,” Carreira said. “There is no more dream, just envy and rage.”
Source: New York Times Top Stories · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing