You’re known for your love of dogs — your English bull terrier, Daisy, shares a name with one of your perfumes. But isn’t a customised Louis Vuitton dog carrier [designed by Jacobs for a Sotheby’s auction in aid of the Red Cross] taking things a bit far?
The kennel was a bit of a joke really. Antoine Arnault [the director of Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy] came to me with the idea of designing something that could be auctioned off for charity and this is all I could think of. Damien Hirst has done an armoire, Annie Leibovitz designed a camera case, and I have my kennel. I have to say in terms of workmanship, the kennel was quite a challenge. By the way, the perfume wasn’t named after my dog; both are after my favourite literary character, Daisy Buchanan from The Great Gatsby.
But something this extravagant — it’s almost as if the recession never happened.
In terms of what’s selling at Louis Vuitton, the recession hasn’t changed anything. I’ve cut back, because my partner Lorenzo and I are buying a house in the West Village in New York. And obviously there are a lot of people suffering out there, but our sales are up and I haven’t noticed that people’s tastes have got more subdued. They may be buying less, but if anything, they want it to be even more special. There’s this huge cult following of almost crazy people at Vuitton who just want whatever they buy to be exclusive. The charity angle also means that people feel more comfortable about spending openly.
Your shows certainly haven’t become any less flamboyant. The most recent one for Louis Vuitton, based on Seventies black street glamour, was a completely tongue-in-cheek fantasy.
And there are lots of really wearable pieces back in the showroom, let me tell you. I don’t have any problem with the disconnect between what’s on the runway and what ends up in store. If we only did wearable, easy pieces for the show, everyone would fall asleep. The function of a modern runway show is to entertain.
Why do you think Louis Vuitton has so far ridden out the economic storm?
The management there is very clever. There are never mark-downs or sales.They never go for the quick buck.
But the monogram is practically ubiquitous. You might think that would devalue it a little.
It took me years to work out what was so special about Vuitton. But when you go to the workshops outside Paris and see how everything is crafted, it is pretty impressive. Added to that, it’s easily identifiable and I guess human instinct is to want to be part of an exclusive club that’s also highly recognisable.
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You sound very at home there.
It’s been a good couple of years — I’ve gained confidence. The shows are getting a lot of publicity, although some fashion editors, having trashed me for years because our shows started so late, are now moaning because we’re so punctual. The one thing I’d like to change is to make the ready-to-wear range more widely available, because we all work so hard on it. But I’m a pragmatist — I know that the driving force of this huge leviathan is accessories.
The hard work is self-evident. Does it bug you that an increasing number of celebrities are attaching their names to fashion lines — Victoria Beckham being the latest?
I’ll reserve judgment on celebrity lines in general, but I think Victoria’s in a different category. She’s really working her ass off. She knows her body very well and she’s making something that really appeals to women who want beautifully made, figure-conscious clothes that aren’t vulgar. I wouldn’t say she asks my advice, but she’s always keen to learn. She’s lovely.
A possible bridesmaid at your wedding?
We still haven’t fixed the date but Lorenzo and I believe in commitment. We’re quite classic like that. We’ve got the licence, hence the rumours that we’d already got married. So hopefully it will happen in 2010. When it does, it will be very low-key.
To mark 150 years of the Red Cross, “L’Excellence du Savoir-Faire” will be at Sotheby’s, London, from November 13. The auction will occur on November 17, by invitation only; louisvuitton.com