LVMH Sets Dates for Fifth Edition of Les Journées Particulières
FRESH START: After being delayed by a year due to the coronavirus pandemic, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton’s open-doors event Les Journées Particulières will return this year with several new participants, including U.S. jeweler Tiffany & Co.
The world’s biggest luxury group aims to attract 200,000 visitors for the fifth edition of the event, scheduled to be held from Oct. 14 to 16, Antoine Arnault, director of image, communication and environment at LVMH, said at a presentation held at the penthouse suite of the Bulgari Hotel in Paris. The last edition in 2018 drew 180,000 visitors.
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This time around, the affair will span 15 countries worldwide, with 96 sites belonging to 57 houses taking part. “After years of confinement and pandemic, thousands of Zoom meetings, and now with all this talk about the metaverse and NFTs, I think it will do us a lot of good to come together again,” Arnault said.
To promote the event, the executive appears in a video alongside seamstresses from the Dior haute couture workshop. He’s shown trying repeatedly to master a herringbone stitch, until finally winning the supervisor’s approval. The Dior flagship on Avenue Montaigne is traditionally one of the most popular destinations during the Journées Particulières.
For the first time, visitors will also have access to the Tiffany jewelry workshop in New York City, which produced the custom crown of thorns worn by rapper Kendrick Lamar during recent public appearances, including his concert at the Glastonbury Festival.
“Their first participation in the event is a very beautiful symbol,” said Arnault, who plans to visit the workshop later this month.
“Incorporating a big house like Tiffany is always complex. You don’t just click your fingers and expect that everything will be perfect and everyone will be thrilled. Change always causes some instability, and that was the case at Tiffany, but it settles down quite quickly over time. When you see the performances of Tiffany today, that also helps to settle a lot of things. The performances are so good, you realize the integration is going well,” he added.
Other newcomers include the Louis Vuitton workshop in Alvarado, Texas; the Château d’Esclans wine estate in France, which produces the popular rosé brand Whispering Angel, and French perfume and cosmetics brand Officine Universelle Buly 1803, which will be hosting events including a calligraphy workshop.
Arnault said the delay allowed the group to prepare even more inventive experiences for the public.
“We asked most of our houses not only to open their doors and showcase what the artisans do best, but also to try to be creative: collaborations with artists, masterclasses, concerts, surprises — sometimes, the brand ambassadors for these houses will be on hand to guide the tours,” he said.
He emphasized that the visits will be free and that no products would be sold during the events. Half the tickets will be made available for pre-booking online on Sept. 22, 26 and 29, and the other half are available on-site on a first-come, first-served basis.
LVMH hopes the experience will inspire some visitors to join the ranks of its craftspeople. “We used to have a culture of secrecy,” Arnault said, noting the group previously limited its communications to financial statements.
“We decided it was important to talk about the brand, its values and this know-how that was being preserved thanks to our houses,” he added. “In the U.S., it’s the same. Before Tiffany joined the group, we were relatively small, if you’ll pardon the expression. Now we’re more present and we also want our employer brand to be a little more present in order to recruit the country’s top talents.”
SEE ALSO:
LVMH Draws Crowds With Fourth Edition of Open-Doors Event
LVMH Expands Les Journées Particulières to Four Continents
A Look Behind the Veil of Couture
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