I had an interesting call from a New York Times journalist, asking me why so many fashion moguls - specifically Bernard Arnault and François Pinault - felt compelled to create art foundations. As you know, Pinault has two massive galleries in Venice; Arnault is poised to open the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris. I think it's partly because the luxury industry has appropriated art as a way of convincing us that fashion is part of culture. But it's also because the fashion industry, particularly the luxury end of it, is so much bigger than it was 20 years ago. The consolidation of many brands into giant groups like PPR and LVMH has created a new generation of multi-billionaires, the equivalent of yesteryear's railroad titans and shipping magnates.
Business people have always had a horror of the tradesman's entrance. So they've gained social legitimacy by collecting art and, later in their lives, creating monuments to their wealth and taste. One thinks of the sugar magnate Sir Henry Tate, founder of the Tate Gallery in London; and of course of Solomon R. Guggenheim. A more recent example would be the advertising mogul Charles Saatchi. But fashion and contemporary art go together for two other reasons. Firstly, fashion branding is all about creating a dream world. And finally, many contemporary art dealers, like some fashion folk, are extremely pretentious.
