{"id":243602,"date":"2026-05-26T07:37:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T07:37:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/243602\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T07:37:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T07:37:12","slug":"comite-colbert-boss-talks-french-luxury-ahead-of-new-york-exhibition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/243602\/","title":{"rendered":"Comit\u00e9 Colbert Boss Talks French Luxury Ahead of New York Exhibition"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tPARIS \u2014 Diplomatic relations between the U.S. and France may have their ups and downs, but America\u2019s love affair with French luxury<\/a> is undimmed.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs the industry struggles to emerge from a prolonged slump, the U.S. has proved a beacon of resilience, defying tariffs, inflation and geopolitical tensions to remain the top market for French luxury goods.<\/p>\n

\n\tComit\u00e9 Colbert<\/a> will celebrate that special relationship<\/a> with an exhibition in New York City timed to coincide with the 250th anniversary of American independence.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHidden Treasures, 250 Years of Franco-American Luxury<\/a> Stories\u201d will run from Tuesday to Sunday at The Shed cultural center at Hudson Yards, bringing together a record 65 members of the French luxury association, from brands like Chanel and Dior to cultural institutions, including the Louvre Museum and the Palace of Versailles.<\/p>\n

\n\tEach house has chosen a symbolic object to tell its story and illustrate how French luxury has been the motor of cultural diplomacy for more than two centuries \u2014 from U.S. First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy\u2019s secret fittings with Hubert de Givenchy to Chanel\u2019s collaborations with Hollywood filmmakers<\/a> on blockbusters like \u201cBarbie.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"A<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tA 3D rendering of Comit\u00e9 Colbert\u2019s \u201cHidden Treasures, 250 Years of Franco-American Luxury Stories\u201d exhibition in New York City. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Comit\u00e9 Colbert<\/p>\n

\n\tThe opening event in New York City on Tuesday will be followed by a reception on Wednesday at the French ambassador\u2019s residence in Washington, D.C., where guests will include a cross-section of U.S. business, cultural and political figures.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn an interview with WWD, B\u00e9n\u00e9dicte Epinay, chief executive officer of Comit\u00e9 Colbert, explains why New York will be the only stop for the exhibition, how French luxury brands are switching their focus from tariffs to dupes, and why King Louis XIV was the original influencer.<\/p>\n

\n\tWWD: Why was the 250th anniversary of American independence a good opportunity to celebrate the presence of French luxury brands in the U.S.?<\/p>\n

\n\tB\u00e9n\u00e9dicte Epinay: Our ambassadors worldwide always ask us to mark important anniversaries. That\u2019s why two years ago, we staged an exhibition in Shanghai commemorating the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between France and China.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn this instance, the presidents of the United States and France wanted to jointly celebrate 250 years of American independence. That decision was taken at the very beginning of U.S. President Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s second mandate.<\/p>\n

\n\tStephane Blanchard, president of Chanel USA and U.S. ambassador for Comit\u00e9 Colbert, held a dinner in New York for U.S. representatives of French luxury brands. Listening to them tell their stories, we quickly realized that all of our houses have an amazing history in the United States. We thought it was a good opportunity to show our gratitude to the United States, not just because it\u2019s the leading market for French luxury goods, but because the relationship goes way back.<\/p>\n

\n\tInspiration has been flowing back and forth for at least 200 years, making it an unusually fertile exchange.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s worth pointing out that, against the backdrop of global tensions, we\u2019re coming to America with a tribute exhibition that says to Americans: \u201cThank you for everything you\u2019ve contributed to our industry in terms of inspiration, icons and cultural exchange.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRegardless of who\u2019s in power, people come to France for the lifestyle and luxury brands. Cultural diplomacy is all about promoting that overseas.<\/p>\n

\n\tWWD: Bernard Arnault often tells the story of his first trip to New York. When he asked a taxi driver whether he knew the name of France\u2019s president, the driver replied: \u201cNo, but I know Christian Dior.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tB.E.: That\u2019s something we see wherever we go. People recognize the names of our luxury brands, our chefs, our philosophers, our landmarks \u2014 and our soccer players, I might add.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s not a clich\u00e9 to say it all goes back to Versailles and the court of Louis XIV, because if you think of it in today\u2019s terms, Versailles was the greatest showroom for French craftsmanship.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"This<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tThe Hall of Mirrors at the Chateau de Versailles.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\n\tLooking at the portraits of the time, he was a king who loved wearing gold, lace, earrings, cultured pearls and perfume. He liked to drape himself in silk, and wear heels so you could spot him from a distance.<\/p>\n

\n\tLouis XIV was the equivalent of a modern-day influencer, and that still resonates today.<\/p>\n

\n\tOur royalty lives on in the popular imagination through books and movies like Sofia Coppola\u2019s \u201cMarie Antoinette,\u201d and that supports this industry.<\/p>\n

\n\tWWD: Why did you decide to hold this exhibition in New York City?<\/p>\n

\n\tB.E.: All our CEOs agreed it had to be New York, but our initial idea was to have the exhibition tour the rest of the United States.<\/p>\n

\n\tWe had planned stops in Chicago, Miami, and Dallas, Houston or Austin in Texas. We wanted to go to Los Angeles, and maybe also San Francisco. But it turns out museums plan their exhibitions between two and five years in advance, so the deadlines were too tight.<\/p>\n

\n\tWWD: Did the current geopolitical situation play a role in the cancellation of this planned exhibition tour?<\/p>\n

\n\tB.E.: Absolutely not. We had a partnership with the American Federation of Arts which, like us, is a nonprofit. They spent six months reaching out to all the American museums in their network.<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019m very happy and proud to bring this exhibition to New York. My only regret is that we\u2019ll be reaching just a fraction of this country\u2019s huge population.<\/p>\n

\n\tWWD: All the more reason to visit the exhibition in New York, then.<\/p>\n

\n\tB.E.:\u00a0We\u2019re in town for six days only, so it\u2019s like C\u00e9line Dion\u2019s concert run in Paris. Catch it while you can.<\/p>\n

\n\tWWD: How did you land on a concept that would work for all your members?<\/p>\n

\n\tB.E.: As soon as we decided to mine the U.S. archives of our houses, the heritage departments got to work. They quickly came back to us with tons of ideas.<\/p>\n

\n\tWe booked a 9,150-square-foot exhibition space thinking we would have 40 participants, and we ended up with 65. Every day, I was getting additional confirmations.<\/p>\n

\n\tAt that point, we realized we needed to focus on one object per house, because otherwise the show would be too sprawling. But there were dozens more stories we could have told.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"A<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tA 3D rendering of Comit\u00e9 Colbert\u2019s \u201cHidden Treasures, 250 Years of Franco-American Luxury Stories\u201d exhibition in New York City. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Comit\u00e9 Colbert<\/p>\n

\n\tWWD: The format of the exhibition, with objects displayed inside shipping crates, is inspired by the golden age of transatlantic travel. Why hark back to this period in time?<\/p>\n

\n\tB.E.: We\u2019d been planning for a while to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Art Deco movement, which was so important for France and for our members.<\/p>\n

\n\tArt Deco was born with the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts held at the Grand Palais in 1925.<\/p>\n

\n\tThere was a Pavilion of Elegance, a Pavilion of Perfume, and all the major French department stores each had their pavilion. There was also a pavilion dedicated to tableware, so there was already this intention of promoting the French art of living.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt felt like a legitimate reference point.<\/p>\n

\n\tWWD: As the representative for French luxury brands, what has been your position on U.S. trade tariffs?<\/p>\n

\n\tB.E.: We are aligned with the French Finance Ministry\u2019s position that these tariffs represent a threat<\/a> to our industry.<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019m a member of the French Strategic Committee for the Fashion and Luxury Sector alongside Pascal Morand, executive president of the F\u00e9d\u00e9ration de la Haute Couture et de la Mode<\/a>, and all the other federations. We\u2019re in close contact with all our ministers. But on the subject of tariffs, we thought it was best not to add fuel to the fire and to remain measured in our response to U.S. policy, because we were worried things would escalate.<\/p>\n

\n\tWe\u2019re also very active at the European Union level. France holds the rotating presidency of the European Cultural and Creative Industries Alliance, or ECCIA, for the next two years. This organization represents the U.K., German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Swedish and French luxury industries. We have offices in Brussels and we hold at least one meeting a week there.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"U.S.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tU.S. President Donald Trump<\/a> meets with French President Emmanuel Macron at the White House on Feb. 24, 2025, in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tChina News Service via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a sense, we\u2019ve learned to live with tariffs. These days, we have bigger battles to fight, such as the cost of energy and counterfeiting. We\u2019re preparing to launch a big campaign against dupes, which are a major concern for our houses. The battle against dupes and counterfeiting is our number-one priority this year. There have been a lot of studies on counterfeiting conducted with customs and police, but these have mostly focused on the scale of the problem. We\u2019ve joined forces with Kea & Partners on a sociological study to try to understand the causes of the phenomenon. We will publish it on June 3 on the eve of World Anti-Counterfeit Day. We\u2019ll also be launching a partnership in June with TikTok Shop, because the sharp rise in dupes is fueled by social commerce.<\/p>\n

\n\tWe\u2019ve worked with them so that when you search for luxury brand dupes, an automatic message pops up urging users to respect creators\u2019 rights.<\/p>\n

\n\tWe\u2019re also launching an awareness campaign on TikTok in June and July, aimed at dissuading younger consumers from buying dupes.<\/p>\n

\n\tAccording to a recent study by the Directorate General for Competition Policy, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control, based on a sample of products sold online by seven foreign marketplaces, 75 percent are non-compliant and 46 percent are dangerous.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe legislation regarding counterfeit products is very clear: They can be confiscated, and the buyer risks a fine. Dupes exist in a kind of gray zone. People think they can just buy dupes freely, but we want it to be clearly stated that the legislation is the same as for counterfeits. It\u2019s intellectual property theft, and it\u2019s very dangerous.<\/p>\n

\n\tFor perfume brands, it\u2019s a tsunami.<\/p>\n

\n\tThere\u2019s no patent protection for fragrance formulations, so we\u2019re also asking for the legislation to be updated.<\/p>\n

\n\tWWD: Have dupes and counterfeits cannibalized the U.S. market for French luxury goods?<\/p>\n

\n\tB.E.: The end of the de minimis exemption on low-value imports was a good thing, since it reduced the flow of small parcels from China, although they\u2019ve been largely redirected to Europe as a result.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut I was still very surprised, the last time I was in New York to prepare for our exhibition, to see dozens of hawkers selling counterfeits on Fifth Avenue. One night, as I was returning to my hotel, I came upon a man who was supplying them. He has a huge trolley filled with counterfeit Chanel and Louis Vuitton bags and he was just going around, topping them up. It was unbelievable to see this happening on an industrial scale right on Fifth Avenue.<\/p>\n

\n\tWWD: We\u2019re seeing brands like Vuitton open experiential megastores that are also exhibition spaces and restaurants. How do you see retail adapting to Gen Z?<\/p>\n

\n\tB.E.: Luxury brands are increasingly positioning themselves as cultural brands by creating multigenerational spaces where you can come to see, touch and feel, but not necessarily buy. In the past, brands were criticized for having stores with airlocks.<\/p>\n

\n\tThere was a literal barrier to entry, whereas nowadays, they have a strategy of being much more accessible. The aim is to open the doors to a new generation.<\/p>\n

\n\tU.S. demand for French luxury remains strong. It\u2019s one of the most resilient markets in the world.<\/p>\n

\n\tStudies show there is obviously an appetite for local labels, the same as in China or India, but it does not replace the demand from younger generations for our brands.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PARIS \u2014 Diplomatic relations between the U.S. and France may have their ups and downs, but America\u2019s love…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":243603,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[55425,153,95155,2364,9,11,10,49,51,50],"class_list":["post-243602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-comitu00e9-colbert","tag-donald-trump","tag-fu00e9du00e9ration-de-la-haute-couture-et-de-la-mode","tag-luxury","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243602\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}