LVMH is a multinational luxury goods company with headquarters in Paris, France. LVMH is the world’s largest fashion group, according to sales.
Moët Hennessy • Louis Vuitton SE, better known as LVMH Group, was founded in 1987
when Bernard Arnault took control of Roussel-Uclaf and decided to merge it with his Christian Dior fashion house.
It now operates in four main business units: fashion and leather goods; wines and spirits; cosmetics and beauty products; perfumes.
LVMH is publicly traded on Euronext Paris exchange under the stock symbol LVHM.
The LVMH Group manufactures and sells luxury goods. It has interests in over 100 companies:
some of these companies indirectly produce or market some of the group’s products.
LVMH Group is currently ranked the largest luxury company by revenue, controlling around 15% of the world’s luxury market.
In 2010, LVMH opened its first store in China at Shanghai Tang Plaza, on the outskirts of Pudong New Area,
which was followed by three more stores in Shanghai followed by four Louis Vuitton flagship stores in Singapore.
The group now intends to significantly expand its presence in China
(which is now considered as an emerging market), with plans to open more than 15 retail locations there by 2015 (2011).
In the fiscal year 2011, the group had revenue of 25.4 billion euros, with more than half coming from markets other than France.
LVMH has been involved in a number of high-profile legal cases including LVMH v.
The Partnerships and Unincorporated Associations Identified on Schedule “A” – Case No. 14 Civ. 7014 (S.D.N.Y.).
Louis Vuitton (with Moët et Chandon), Dom Perignon (with Mumm Napa), Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin (with Piper-Heidsieck) and Krug (with Ashton).
The company is a member of the United Nations Global Compact, and has been included in the Fortune Global 500 list.
LVMH is composed of different brands such as:
LVMH owns around 60 subsidiaries such as DFS (the world’s largest duty-free retailer),
Sephora (cosmetics), Loewe (luxury fashion and leather goods), Tag Heuer (luxury watches), Donna Karan
(women’s ready-to-wear and fragrances) and Roger & Gallet (personal care and cosmetics).
A number of major brands are owned by LVMH despite not being part of the main fashion and leather goods business. These include:
Louis Vuitton is one of the most prestigious luxury brands in the world, and has started to expand into Asia.
In China, it is one of the most successful international luxury brand with 10 LV shops in China alone.
It plans on opening up more shops there with its main market being Asia and North America after France and Japan
Christian Dior was founded by Christian Dior, a French fashion designer born in Granville, France.
He married his dream woman Linda Christian in 1940 who became his muse for his collections due to her pale porcelain skin and dark hair.
He was inspired by the 19th-century French sculptor Auguste Rodin’s sculptures of young girls.
Launched in 1945, Christian Dior opened his first shop on the rue de Sévigné in Paris.
He had a reputation for using materials available during World War II, among them parachute silk and the bark canvas of the birch tree.
The label’s earliest designs were made in house with some being designed by Pierre Balmain and Hubert de Givenchy,
but Dior quickly gained international recognition for his work.
He continued to work exclusively for the Dior brand after purchasing it from his employer, Guy de Rothschild in 1949.
Dior’s first female assistant was 19-year-old New York socialite Doris Duke.
Duke became his muse; she assisted him with sketches, served as model for his garments,
attended fashion shows on Dior’s behalf. They became lovers off and on throughout the next two decades.
Christian Dior was the founder of the house of Dior in 1946.
He created three new collections each season with each collection lasting for one year only.
During this time, he worked closely with Linda Christian who had left her husband to work for Dior.
Dior, who had previously worked with Balenciaga, was famous for his “New Look” silhouette.
This era for the brand is widely considered the most successful in its history.
In 1955, Dior was passed over for the role of head designer at Balenciaga when that position was given to Cristóbal Balenciaga.
After this incident, he began looking for a new way to express his talent and creativity.
He wanted to start his own fashion house and in 1953 he began designing clothes under
his name after meeting with the company Griedge Mouchotte. He launched his first collection in October 1954 under the name “Corolle”.
This collection included simple dresses with small collars and short sleeves.
A new currency exchange of currency at the time, the French “franc”, was used currency in his collections.
He closed the house in 1959 and sold it a decade later for a reported one million dollars. cleanersj.com/
