Posted on 01/15/2009 6:48:30 PM PST by Cincinna
FRANCE is the birthplace of luxury fashion, and here the recession biting the world has the feel of a morality play.
As high-end consumers everywhere have suddenly suppressed their appetite for luxury goods, what was once considered a recession-proof industry has been hardhit.
High-end stores in the United States watched in horror as holiday sales tanked, while in Tokyo, Louis Vuitton canceled plans for what would have been its largest and most glittery store anywhere.
For the French, each wave of bad news has brought high anxiety here.
When Chanel recently announced the layoff of 200 temporary employees — only slightly more than 1 percent of its 16,000-member work force — the daily newspaper Le Parisien called the news a bombshell.
The television channel LCI described the move as the most serious setback to the company since Coco Chanel fired her entire staff and closed shop when war broke out in 1939.
But there is also, paradoxically, an underlying satisfaction here that an era of sometimes vulgar high living is over and that a more bedrock French way of life will emerge.
Only in France is the recession lauded for posing a crisis in values.
A recent issue of Le Figaro Magazine featured a 12-page guide to scaled-down living in 2009, with predictions that people will work less and put family (even in-laws) first. A French trend expert quoted in the magazine dramatically described the changes as nothing less than “a revolution in values.”
Alain Némarq, the chairman of Mauboussin, the prestige jewelry firm, noted in an interview that saving the luxury industry should be an important national priority because it employs 200,000 people in France, is part of French heritage, brings prestige to the country and seduces not just the “happy few” but a large swath of the public.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
From what I have read, it seems much of Paris has been overrun by Moslems. Ain’t it grand? Don’t they bring prosperity, since their ways are so superior to the West? I have no plans to visit any time soon.
It will be interesting to see how the recession of 2008-2009 works its way through the world.
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This is so silly. The French are just about the most materialistic people on the face of the planet.
After the French Revolution, the aristocracy and the haute bourgeoisie started wearing their fur on the inside of their coats.
To this day it is rare to see fur coats in Paris, even though every chic woman has a “pelisse”, a coat lined in fur.
How much do you think Sarko can get for his collection of “gently used” Rolex bling?
“the french will work even less...”
Are they kidding ? For chrissakes, the UNEMPLOYED go on STRIKE in France demanding higher unemployment benefits!
How the @#%$%%!!!! could they work LESS ?
He could place his Rolexes on E-Bay.
Not to worry. Paris will make wearing burkas popular.
The Muslims are in the suburbs they are not in Paris, they cannot afford, nor can they speak french.
What designer will she wear to the inauguration? The balls?
a 12-page guide to scaled-down living in 2009, with predictions that people will work less and put family (even in-laws) first.work *less*? Yeah, that'll make them all rich... ;') Thanks Cincinna.
Actually it is one of the odd things about the French, they are not materialistic at all even though Paris is the creator of a great deal of the luxury items the rich enjoy.
yitbos
Refusing to pay two thousand dollars for five dollars worth of material and ten dollars of labor would only be "scaled down living" in the French fashion world.
Oh, this isn’t about Hilton Paris? Sorry, I saw lap, Paris and squirms in the headline and made an assumption.
I’ve been to Paris and stayed in the Paris Hilton. Seem funny to say that now.
I would not worry about it. As I’ve said before, when push comes to shove the French will reach down and grab their balls and there will be muzzie heads rolling. It’s not like the muzzies are Germans who would maintain the French way of life despite fascism. The French know that the muzzies are there to put an end to the French culture and way of life.
Oh...I’m certain the typical French purveyor of fine items would agree...they are not materialistic, the however, do appreciate fine craftsmanship...and of course Chanel does offer unique items...
that is a sort of the France I “know” a bit about, self sufficiency, garden in the backyard, petulant even when down on their luck.
Eh, hard times boils away the froth, leaving only the soup.
The French Revolution was stupid and the culture of entitlement it created was/is equally stupid.
Isn't that the way King Louis XVI ran the French economy? I have to admit that I wouldn't mind having a couple of his chairs or clocks.
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