Françoise Montenay is Chanel president in Europe, Maureen Chiquet president and Chief Operating Officier in the US. Within the group they are the only two woman on the formidable "presidents' comitee" that manages Group world strategy.

Q: what is your ultimate definition of luxury?

F.M: Luxury is a form of a emancipation: the opportunity to choose and to make the most of one's choices. Luxury is a lipstick whose case does not scratch, it's the comfort of what one is wearing, and it's fluidity in use; it's both mellow and modern, tactile and direct. Luxury makes everything possible: softness, pleasure ... protection, also. For exemple, we have developed a machine that tirelessly repeats a woman's body movements: Putting a shoulder bag over her shoulder, which is something woman do around 200 times a day. This has enabled us to modify the weave of our tweeds, to make them more wear-resistant. That's the flip side of luxury, but that is how luxury functions.

M.C: Luxury goes beyond the product. More than just a representation through the vehicule of an object, true luxury is actually an experience. It's an emotion, something illogical that is felt before it can be defined. In the 1980's and 1990's, luxury was a badge, possession. Now-adays, luxury consists of moments spent with family in the Lubéron. When I'm there, everything comes down to sensation: the view of verdant valleys, the fragrance of lavender, the chirping of the cicadas... There's always a moment when I need to bury myself in that beauty, which reminds me that Coco Chanel once said that a thing becomes luxury only when one could, at a pinch, do whithout it... but one doesn't.
jeudi 4 août 2005