Culture is a team effort, in which all art forms participate to create beauty together. But it also requires people to constantly explore new things. This is especially true for a brand like Louis Vuitton, where creative collaboration is part of the company’s DNA. Take, for example, the brand’s latest boutique, which opened on Milan’s Via Montenapoleone on Friday.
In addition to Louis Vuitton’s traditional product lines (as well as a bar and restaurant), the neoclassical Palazzo Taverna room will be the first boutique to showcase the brand’s Objets Nomades collection of experimental furniture and design objects, table art, decoration and entertainment objects.
“The opening of this store is closely linked to Milan Design Week,” said Pietro Beccari, CEO and president of Louis Vuitton. “It was designed by American architect Peter Marino, and we have great respect for Milanese style.” Louis Vuitton will showcase its vision by focusing on a purely Italian narrative, which also means there will be no shortage of good food. “We want to offer a real culinary cultural experience.
The bar overlooking Via Monte Napoleone will be dedicated to aperitifs; on the other hand, on Via Bagutta, we will have a real restaurant called Dav by Da Vittorio,” he tells Vogue.
The Milan boutique is the second chapter of an ambitious global project. “In New York, with the extraordinary success of the 57th Street store, we concretely demonstrated what we want to do,” Beccari says. “We are also working on an unprecedented project on the Champs-Élysées. I don’t want to reveal the details, but I think it represents the future of retail, which I call ‘retail entertainment’ – the fusion of product, brand, experience and culture.”
Works by Italian artists Giuseppe Penone and Mimmo Paladino will be on display at Palazzo Taverna from April 7 to 13 during Milan Design Week.
Additionally, Louis Vuitton will present a recreation of French architect Charlotte Perriand’s legendary La Maison au Bord de l’Eau at Palazzo Serbelloni – a minimalist version of a seaside house originally designed in 1934. For Louis Vuitton, this will mark the launch of a series of textiles inspired by some of the motifs from Perriand’s work.
Beccari enthuses: “When a brand starts out as a luxury brand and wants to expand into a cultural brand, collaborations are a great tool. It’s the same mechanism that happens in our lives – we meet people who change us and leave a mark in our lives.”
Born in the Italian town of Basilica Goiano, Beccari moved to Germany and started working in the cosmetics industry. Before that, though, he worked in sports. “I thought I would be a football player,” he says. “I almost became a professional footballer. But one day, someone told me, ‘No, you’re not a footballer.’
So I wanted to work in the hottest fashion multi-brand store in Parma. I went to business school and started working without knowing exactly where I was going. I was always perceptive and that gave me some kind of ambition. I never thought of becoming a fashion executive, but I ended up doing it.”
Along the way, Beccari has many mentors. “Of course, Mr. Yves Carcelle,” he says, referring to his great predecessor at Louis Vuitton. “He changed my life. He interviewed me and I told him I didn’t want to work in fashion. He invited my wife and I to his house for dinner and managed to entice us by showing me his lifestyle. I worked with him and saw how he operated; he is a giant.”
Then there was Mr. Bernard Arnault, with whom I have worked directly for ten years; he has a kind of obsession, a desire to improve, never satisfied, always looking for the next level. I think I have this obsession in myself. In fact, I think a certain kind of obsession is essential to success in life. Then you have to know how to control it, otherwise it can take over,” he continues.
“Finally, there is Tony Belloni, now head of LVMH Italy. I worked with him at Fendi. He has an extraordinary talent and taught me a lot, both in terms of people and management.”
Beccari has also worked with many of the designers who have made their mark in fashion history. How do you strike a balance between creativity and business? “Perhaps the most important word is authenticity. We often tend to isolate creative people from reality. Instead, I think that in dealing with them we always maintain a relationship based on authenticity: a space where I can speak freely, always respecting their creativity,” Beccari says.
“At the same time, I hold them accountable and share a clear vision of where I want to take the brand. This sense of common purpose, this sense of space to speak freely, is the secret – this way of operating can also lead to great conflicts and reconciliations. But if it’s too quiet, there’s a lack of dialogue, we lose sight of our common goals, our relationship, and even the joy of creating and working together. ”
We couldn’t resist asking him about what it’s like working with Pharrell Williams and Nicolas Ghesquière (creative director of menswear and womenswear). “They are very different, and this diversity is a great asset. Consistency is a strength in the mass market (where I worked for many years) because there you need to repeat the same message.
In luxury, on the other hand, you find that difference is the flint that lights the fire,” he says. “The difference between Williams and Ghesquière is deliberate, and each has extraordinary qualities. Williams has a unique sense of all cultural forms; he has infinite talent in many areas.
And Ghesquière is one of the few great living couture designers left. He designs his collections by hand, never repeats himself, and forces himself to reinvent himself every time. There are very few people like him.”
A company like Louis Vuitton relies on a team with different personalities and needs. Beccari knows this well: “A good manager brings out the best in his people and knows how to provide the right support when each person needs it. Throughout my career, many people have been able to reach their full potential. I am proud of that.”
Beccari may not be a football player, but he brings a strategic vision and a teamwork mindset to Louis Vuitton. “It’s very much a reflection of my qualities as an athlete.
It comes from the fact that I trained every day from the age of 13 to 22, which taught me not only a strong sense of discipline, but also the value of community, team, sacrifice and the beauty of victory,” he says. “Because if you win, you get used to winning and keep winning. If you never win, you don’t understand the meaning of winning and lack the motivation to win.”
The interview started with design and culture and ended with books. What are you reading now? “A coaching book: The First Law of Mastery by Michael Gervais. He is a great motivational master of athletes. He believes that CEOs, like athletes, must maintain a high level of performance. He talked about the ‘fear of other people’s opinions’ (FOPO), which often holds us back.
We do a lot of things either out of fear of being judged or because we follow other people’s advice, common sense or what has been done. In reality, we betray what we really want to do and hinder our potential. In addition, I am reading a collection of aphorisms and reflections – from Marcus Aurelius to Hadrian to Seneca – to find the balance we sometimes lose in our work. ”
Before leaving, we asked him to summarize his humanistic and entrepreneurial vision with a motto. He smiled and confessed: “I have many! The one I often think of is: ‘Don’t think too big, think too big. ‘ Or, ‘Dream, dare to act. ‘ It’s not enough to have a dream, you also have to dare to dream. You also have to dare to act, because if you don’t have the courage, the dream will always be just a dream.
Successful people are those who can turn dreams into reality, and I hope to be one of them – and I hope that my team can do the same. ” The dream can be a boutique full of creativity, a temple to explore art, a collection of design works, a fashion project that integrates the cultural trends of the times. What matters is that there is a team.