David Rosenthal: belief

Transcript context

…Yes, let's dive in. We start not in 1949, in a small city in the north of France named Roubaix with the birth of Bernardo Arnault. But actually, three very short years earlier, in a very different part of France, in Paris, in 1946, immediately after the end of World War II. It's going to be fun. This episode has, especially here at the beginning, some Sony similarities. Indeed, just like Sony, LVMH and Bernard was a big influence on Steve Jobs and Apple. Paris in 1946, it's not quite as bad as Tokyo in 1946, but this is not a happy place. France and Paris, of course, had been occupied during most of the war by the Nazis. Although the economy wasn't totally destroyed like in Japan, it was pretty much entirely shifted during the war to supporting the Nazi war effort. Let's just say there's a lot of emotional reckoning that needs to happen here in France and all over the world in 1946. Into that time in place, steps one Christian Dior. Dior, before the war, had been a designer at various Parisian fashion houses, which were, of course one of France's most important cultural and economic institutions with heritage going back to folks like Coco Chanel, who famously created Chanel in 1910, thrives during the roaring 20s, were a huge part of culture all across the world. I didn't realize this till we did the research. The Chanel perfume, Chanel No. 5, the most famous fragrance in the world, was introduced in 1921. Today, Chanel is a private company, so nobody really knows. But it's estimated that that one fragrance does about $3 billion or $4 billion in revenue a year. The war, of course, changes. All of this, France is occupied. It's actually really sad. It doesn't come out till just about 10 years ago, but Coco Chanel herself becomes a Nazi agent. There's a lot of really bad stuff that happened, particularly to the fashion industry. There's a great piece in CR Fashion Book about the rise of Dior and this time coming out of the war in France. It says, "Nazi ideology abhorred Parisian styles and the slender feminine bodies it idealized, arguing that they were both corruptive to natural strong Aryan women. Instead, Adolf Hitler advocated for the practicality and nationalist quality of German dress, which saw women in drab and boxy uniforms. He then took direct aim at the oat couture industry of Paris, demanding that it operate within Nazi regulations and that all of its exports cease." Dior had been a successful designer before the war. During the war, he gets co-opted into this. He works at the Maison Lucien Lelong, where he's mostly designing these boxy uniform-like dresses for the wives of Nazi officers. After the war, he's one of the few really talented designers out there that are on the market and aren't totally tainted by the Nazis. The wealthy textile industrialist Marcel Boussac approaches him in 1946 to come, lead, and renovate his old flagship Parisian fashion house, Philippe et Gaston. It's like a Beauty and the Beast episode here. lthy textile industrialist Marcel Boussac approaches him in 1946 to come, lead, and renovate his old flagship Parisian fashion house, Philippe et Gaston. It's like a Beauty and the Beast episode here. Dior, though, says, I want to make a fresh start after the war. I think I'd rather do something under my own name than revive this old brand and boost access. Oh, okay, that's fine. We don't need to do that. I agree with you. I'll just finance you starting this new fashion luxury maison here, revitalizing the industry in Paris, and we'll start fresh. They get to work, he finances Dior. It's like the story of Fairchild Semiconductor. But if Fairchild Camera and Instrument had let the traitorous eight actually name it themselves, but still basically owned by the parent.…

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