{"id":43809,"date":"2019-10-22T13:06:56","date_gmt":"2019-10-22T17:06:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/?p=43809"},"modified":"2019-10-22T15:52:18","modified_gmt":"2019-10-22T19:52:18","slug":"louis-vuitton-is-cancelled-for-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/2019\/10\/louis-vuitton-is-cancelled-for-me\/","title":{"rendered":"Louis Vuitton Is Cancelled for Me"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>How the hell did I miss this Jan. 9, 2017, photo of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lvmh.com\/group\/about-lvmh\/governance\/executive-committee\/bernard-arnault\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">LVMH Chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault<\/a> gazing adoringly at the usurper Donald Trump?<\/p>\n<p><center><a id='ma8Grq0ATspuWZkNPCBVpw' class='gie-single' href='http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/631336198' target='_blank' style='color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;'>Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'ma8Grq0ATspuWZkNPCBVpw',sig:'mo7Orbu-ZptIsLg6xhHjDpdYHrP11v6rJaw94CAm67U=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'631336198',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/center><\/p>\n<p>I would have cancelled LVMH&#8217;s Louis Vuitton brand at that moment, rather than waiting till last week, when Arnault and Trump again made eyes at each other at Louis Vuitton&#8217;s new factory in Texas. <\/p>\n<p><center><a id='-YWkIlWvRgFOJkPsMLjR-Q' class='gie-single' href='http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1176406382' target='_blank' style='color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;'>Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'-YWkIlWvRgFOJkPsMLjR-Q',sig:'3vRdWdnkYeuiqlxgaTokRzLSbUu5WYUlGfiO222hR6g=',w:'594px',h:'412px',items:'1176406382',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/center><\/p>\n<p>It was at the January 2017 get-together that France&#8217;s Arnault first floated the idea of a Louis Vuitton factory in either the Carolinas or Texas, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessoffashion.com\/articles\/news-analysis\/louis-vuitton-in-talks-to-open-us-factory\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">according to a June 22, 2017, story on the Business of Fashion<\/a>. Considering Trump&#8217;s rise to power was assisted by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.salon.com\/2019\/07\/09\/another-broken-promise-job-creation-under-trump-trails-obama-by-800000\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">his song-and-dance about increasing manufacturing jobs in the U.S.<\/a>, this was blatant currying of favor as well as a prime example of TOO MUCH being NEVER ENOUGH for the ultra-rich and greedy. You see, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/luisakroll\/2019\/07\/18\/frances-bernard-arnault-is-now-worlds-second-richest-person\/#4ec608113799\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">according to Forbes, Arnault is the second-richest man in the world<\/a>, so prior to November 2016, he could have bought and sold the <a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/2016\/08\/24\/5-things-you-need-to-know-about-donald-trumps-debt\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">perpetually debt-ridden Trump<\/a> until the Texas cows came home. But Trump stumbled into great power, and the very rich fetishize power while the very powerful fetishize wealth. Voil\u00e0! A leather workshop appears in Keene, Texas. The favor-granting didn&#8217;t end there, of course: In exchange for 1,000 jobs over five years, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texasstandard.org\/stories\/louis-vuitton-sets-up-shop-in-small-town-texas\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Johnson County gave Louis Vuitton a 10-year, 75% tax abatement<\/a>. Are you wondering why a multi-billionaire feels the need to pinch pennies by hustling for tax breaks? Well, how do you think he got so rich in the first place? It probably wasn&#8217;t by paying his fair share. It never is &#8212; ask some rich people. They&#8217;ll tell you! They&#8217;re proud of it.<\/p>\n<p>I always hope that the artistically inclined will do better than the financially obsessed, so it was good to see that Nicolas Ghesqui\u00e8re, the artistic director for Louis Vuitton&#8217;s women&#8217;s collections, called out Arnault&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/louis-vuitton-trump-nicolas-ghesquiere-designer-calls-president-a-joke-homophobia-after-texas-workshop-opening\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Trump relationship<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/B30zfWMI0DW\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"12\" style=\" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);\">\n<div style=\"padding:16px;\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/B30zfWMI0DW\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" style=\" background:#FFFFFF; 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font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:550; line-height:18px;\"> View this post on Instagram<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding: 12.5% 0;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;\">\n<div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #F4F4F4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-left: 8px;\">\n<div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg)\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-left: auto;\">\n<div style=\" width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);\"><\/div>\n<div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);\"><\/div>\n<div style=\" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a> <\/p>\n<p style=\" margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/B30zfWMI0DW\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" style=\" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;\" target=\"_blank\">Standing against any political action. I am a fashion designer refusing this association #trumpisajoke #homophobia<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;\">A post shared by @<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/nicolasghesquiere\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" style=\" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px;\" target=\"_blank\"> nicolasghesquiere<\/a> on <time style=\" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;\" datetime=\"2019-10-20T03:33:21+00:00\">Oct 19, 2019 at 8:33pm PDT<\/time><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/center><\/p>\n<p>That said, if Ghesqui\u00e8re keeps getting his paycheck from LVMH, his Instagram post is just &#8230; an Instagram post. As for me, the #slowfashion maven, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/2011\/05\/personae-non-gratae-galliano-and-von-trier\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">I hardly ever get rid of anything<\/a>, so I guess I&#8217;m keeping all the Vuitton I already own. A lot of it is artist collaborations, so I will hopefully still find enjoyment in my <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/mrb-is-the-cats-pyjamas-plus-what-wendy-wore\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Grace Coddington bag<\/a>, my <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/what-wendy-wore-not-autumn-yet\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Takashi Murakami bag<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/2008\/12\/sprouse-is-back-back-again\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Stephen Sprouse bags<\/a>. But MrB will have to come up with a new idea for birthdays, because I can&#8217;t imagine feeling anything like my past joy for new Vuitton. It&#8217;s not that I think depriving Monsieur Arnault of a once-a-year purchase will cause him any pain, but if luxury goods come with bad vibes, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/2015\/03\/what-wendy-wore-striped-wedges-by-uh-oh\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">what&#8217;s the point<\/a>? It makes me think of this line that people always toss around about fine jewelry: &#8220;No one NEEDS jewelry.&#8221;  Well, I&#8217;m probably as far away from NEEDING anything from Vuitton as Arnault is from paying his pledge to rebuild Notre Dame.<\/p>\n<p>Oh yeah, Trump lovin&#8217; and tax-break scouting aren&#8217;t the only things I dislike about Arnault. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-france-notredame-lvmh\/lvmhs-billionaire-boss-arnault-defends-notre-dame-donations-idUSKCN1RU1FD\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">I was originally impressed and relieved when the Arnault family pledged \u20ac200 million to rebuild the Notre Dame cathedral after it was ravaged by fire in April<\/a>. However, by the end of June, only \u20ac10 million &#8212; 5% &#8212; had been released. <a href=\"https:\/\/observer.com\/2019\/08\/amazon-wildfire-lvmh-bernard-arnault-macron-aid-package\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">According to the Observer<\/a>, the issue was control: <\/p>\n<p><em><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;LVMH and other big donors contributing to the Notre Dame reconstruction effort were reluctant to release their committed funds because they wanted to see their money spent on actual restoration projects, not preparatory work, such as debris cleanup.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/em><\/p>\n<p>What kind of nonsense is that? <a href=\"https:\/\/news.artnet.com\/art-world\/notre-dame-lead-contaminants-1651621\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">This fire spread dangerous lead all over Paris<\/a>, but Louis Vuitton doesn&#8217;t want any clean-up work done with its money? That work isn&#8217;t fancy enough or something? Dang! Maybe Arnault figures it doesn&#8217;t matter &#8212; what with <a href=\"https:\/\/biblehub.com\/mark\/10-25.htm\">the camel not fitting through the eye of the needle<\/a> &#8212; but in case he <em>does<\/em> hope to buy his way into the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbc.com\/the-good-place\">Good Place<\/a>, failing to come through on a promise to a cathedral is a major demerit. <\/p>\n<p><center><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/giphy.com\/embed\/vX9WcCiWwUF7G\" width=\"480\" height=\"270\" frameBorder=\"0\" class=\"giphy-embed\" allowFullScreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/giphy.com\/gifs\/mrw-mods-bethesda-vX9WcCiWwUF7G\">via GIPHY<\/a><\/p>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p>UPDATED TO ADD: This weekend, The New York Times had a good story about the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/10\/17\/style\/rich-people-things.html\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">acquisitive compulsions of the ultra-wealthy<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><center><div id=\"attachment_43828\" style=\"width: 508px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/10\/17\/style\/rich-people-things.html\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-43828\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/rich.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"498\" height=\"139\" class=\"size-full wp-image-43828\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/rich.jpg 498w, https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/rich-300x84.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 498px) 100vw, 498px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-43828\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Click to read the New York Times story.<\/p><\/div><\/center><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How the hell did I miss this Jan. 9, 2017, photo of LVMH Chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault gazing adoringly at the usurper Donald Trump? Embed from Getty Images I would have cancelled LVMH&#8217;s Louis Vuitton brand at that moment, rather than waiting till last week, when Arnault and Trump again made eyes at each&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/2019\/10\/louis-vuitton-is-cancelled-for-me\/\">Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43828,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[49,558,143,144],"tags":[2195,2196,1455,984],"class_list":["post-43809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-in-the-news","category-news","category-politics","category-rants","tag-bernard-arnault","tag-capitalism","tag-louis-vuitton","tag-never-trump","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43809"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43809\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43830,"href":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43809\/revisions\/43830"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}