LVMH Is Putting Craftsmanship on the Big Stage
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Four dozen young people, dressed all in black with their sleeves pushed up, filed onto a Paris stage and did what millions do daily on TikTok: flail their forearms in unison.
Yet this gathering was to convince people that being an influencer is not really a “métiers d’excellence,” but making wine barrels, jewelry, handbags or makeup formulations is.
More from WWD
Dior's Larger-Than-Life Gingerbread Holiday Display at Harrods
Inside Louis Vuitton's '200 Trunks, 200 Visionaries' Exhibition Celebration
About 1,100 people assembled in the Salle Pleyel concert hall in Paris on Tuesday afternoon to spotlight efforts by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton to attract future generations to careers in creative, craftsmanship and client-experience fields.
The French luxury giant roped in its top brass, Loewe creative director Jonathan Anderson, retired basketball star Tony Parker, street-dance guru Sadeck Waff and a host of in-house artisans to shore up interest in jobs vital to the booming luxury sector.
LVMH chairman and chief executive officer Bernard Arnault, who famously tours department stores, boutiques and workshops in his spare time, appeared in a brief video address to share his enthusiasm for the merch, and the skilled people who realize them.
“Regardless of our role with the group, it is essential to always maintain this contact with our products and with all those that contribute to them,” he said. “Long-term desirability counts more than anything else” and artisans “give these products that intangible touch of soul that so many envy.”
His message to younger generations? “In a few years, you will become custodians of unique know-how, so that 50 years from now, people will continue to revel in tasting Dom Pérignon Champagne, or in wearing a Dior dress, Chaumet jewelry or a Louis Vuitton handbag.”
French luxury goods association Comité Colbert estimates that brands will need 20,000 more skilled craftspeople in France to meet demand, representing a major challenge for the industry.
LVMH said it expects to hire 3,000 people in these areas by the end of 2024.
“A war for talent” is how Chantal Gaemperle, executive vice president of human resources and synergies at LVMH, characterized the situation on Tuesday.
“It’s our number-one challenge, and our number-one opportunity,” she said in an interview after the two-hour variety show, which concluded with a giant group photo that had LVMH group managing director Toni Belloni kneeling alongside young athletes from Parker’s Adéquat Academy in Lyon, France, which provides them education and training, and help finding jobs.
Videos were screened showing young people dazzled after visiting luxury department store Le Bon Marché, or the workrooms of couture house Dior.
“We are very lucky to have such an ecosystem of wonderful brands that excite and attract interest and admiration,” Gaemperle allowed. “But I would say that’s not enough.…What people will be looking for is the right culture, the right values, the possibility to learn and the possibility to have an impact.”
LVMH, parent of brands including Givenchy, Tiffany, Hublot and Sephora, has stepped up its recruitment drive by staging large-scale events across France and in Italy, too. On Tuesday, 63 of the group’s “virtuosos” were recognized on stage and handed a gold and diamond badge crafted in Chaumet’s Place Vendôme ateliers.
Gaemperle noted that its first job is exalting jobs involving artisanal craftsmanship, creative and retail skills. It has identified 280 specialty metiérs across its 75 brands in fashion and leather goods, perfumes and cosmetics, wines and spirits, watches and jewelry, hospitality and specialty retailing.
Yet only 8 percent of young people today opt for artisanship as a career, partly because of a lack of awareness, according to Gaemperle.
Among its arsenal of initiatives is an outreach program targeting middle-school children and inspiring them to consider vocational training; a roving “orientation” tour offering training and jobs, and an in-house institute that welcomed 450 apprentices in seven countries this year. In total, the French group counts 36 schools within LVMH maisons to burnish employee skills.
LVMH established its Institut des Métiers d’Excellence work/study program in 2014. It plans to launch an Italian Craft Prize next year.
For Anderson’s segment, stage hands wheeled out four looks from Loewe’s spring 2023 runway show, including a flaring floral-print T-shirt made of iron. A video montage showed workers grinding, hammering, welding and spray-painting the unusual garment.
“It’s about pushing things. How do you find newness in craft?” the designer told the crowd, regaling them with tales of his trips to Japan to discover master basket weavers, how his grandfather’s ceramics collection sparked his curiosity about how things are made, and how his pannier dresses for spring were actually based on the shape of a man’s jacket draped over the hips.
He told the crowd he first considered becoming an actor but then “fell into” fashion, starting off doing windows and theater costumes before launching his JW Anderson brand.
His advice for aspiring fashion designers: “You have to roll with the punches. It’s like a marathon,” he related. “And I always say that you should never compromise.”
Gaemperle described an urgent need to “plant the seeds today” in order to attract more people to specialized vocations. “It takes seven years to develop the skills in order to become a jewelry-maker, for example,” she said. “It means we need to act today to fill the needs that exist, and that will be urgent in five year’s time.”
