So, what’s an example of a moment in the last 20 months where you lost that connection to your gratitude and fell out of yourself? I don’t know, did I feel disappointed or disheartened?
It’s a big system, and sometimes you want it to move as quickly as you think or iterate. Sometimes there is a withdrawal. But I’m lucky to be in a system where they listen, and we clearly explain why we think something is a barrier and how we can be more efficient. This is a system that listens. So there are moments when you must exercise patience. And we do.
What is it like to have a corporate job after so many years of complete artistic independence?
Well, it’s a house manufactured by a company. It’s not a job.
Why not?
Because I don’t have a boss. It’s a house. I was asked to come in and be the creative director. I mean I like (Louis Vuitton CEO) Pietro (Beccari) and he hired me, but he’s not my boss.
And Bernard Arnault is not your boss either?
No, I’m at home. It literally runs like a home. It is clearly his home. And they pay me very well. But there’s no one like him, You better do this and You have to do it. He’s like an artist in residence. So it’s completely different. I wouldn’t accept it if someone thought they were my boss. I’m fine. I am blessed.
Tell me a little about the nature of your conversations with Pietro Beccari. What happens when you meet?
He’s one of the best CEOs in the game because of several things: He’s good at strategy. He is an empowerment supporter. And he has a backbone. People with a spine can stand next to you or stand behind you because they have vertebrae. There are a lot of intersections we agree on. One is about efficiency. So when I say to him, hey, we need Da da da da So that I can create – so that I can iterate and think and do what I need to do – it makes it happen.
How is your working relationship with Bernard Arnault going?
When we are together, meet, or have a meal, we share our philosophies about the business situation. We also talk about culture. He was very dialed in. You cannot be a man of his stature by not being in touch with the culture. He has been contacted.
Well, you can’t build LVMH by staring at spreadsheets.
by only He stares at spreadsheets, because he does that too. His eyes are 3D. One looks at spreadsheets and the other looks at culture. And when he mixes them together, he gets this three-dimensional understanding of how the world works and how it will work. We do that too: we have prior conversations.
What do you mean by that?
We’re talking about the future. Where we see it heading. We have many aspects of his work that are very close to his heart, and he asked me to focus on them. And so you’ll see some really interesting things emerge at Moët. (Tugs on a gold pendant.) I did this with Tiffany.
So, you’re here in LV, and this is where you live, but there’s another house across the street you can tour too?
Yes. It’s: What do you want to do? Can you tend to this? Can you tend to that? And we do. Then there are the charitable things we’ve been working on. For them, this is charity. For me, I call it tithing. It’s just giving back to the universe.
In my role, I spend a lot of time in Paris, but I’ve never moved here for 20 months. You moved your family here. What do you learn?
French, a little at a time. And being here, looking across the pond, I see how we piss each other off. I see how we are so tribal. Do you know how condensation creates iridescence in your fingerprints, depending on how light falls on it? You can see the fingerprints of foreign agents and foreign countries pitting us against each other. You can see the fingerprints from here.
Because of the distance?
Because of the distance. And that’s a hard thing to watch, but you don’t want to be in it because you’ll be one of them, choosing a side. And then there are the people in its midst who have a salacious hunger to feed their prejudice. So they do whatever it takes to make you try to choose sides. If you don’t, you’re the enemy. When you choose a side, everyone (on that side) is with you. And then the other group of people who disagree hate you. And it’s like, what do you all think about those stars on the flag? Do you think every country is similar? Are you crazy?
Yes. It’s not just a blue box.
Thank God Hawaii isn’t like Iowa, and Iowa isn’t like Illinois. New Mexico is not like Atlanta, Georgia. Thank God! This is what makes us beautiful. How did we become the United States of America? Let us put aside for a moment original sin, the country’s first commodity, the one to which black people belonged. Let’s put that aside. How can we become this idea that was sold to us, that this was the land of the free and the home of the brave, and that all these different countries from around the world, mostly from Europe, would come there and set up shop and create this new world, right? What happened to that?
Yes. It’s meant to be united Countries.
We are far from that now. This is all so hard to watch, man. And for me, listen, I don’t think you’re supposed to agree to everything. But you have to appreciate the differences because you are different from someone else too. This is what we have completely lost. This is how I know we have a sparkle in our eyes back home: when I hear these conversations about anti-immigration and “they’re coming to our country and they’re bringing diseases, they’re raping, they’re killing, they’re killing us.” “They’re bringing drugs, they’re taking our jobs” – you can take the words from some of these speeches and show Native Americans and put these speeches with them. They were there first. They would have the right to be the ones to say that. So when you think about these people who want you to take sides on certain things, it’s like, man, I’m sorry, but I’m not for any kind of division. For me, we are all children of God. And if the Lord loves everyone –
Who are we to hate?
I’m not for division You know there’s a word sword. You move it Q Backwards, which is words. I choose words. I hope there will be no loss of life, and that people will be able to discuss their differences. But I also know that the world doesn’t work that way. And again, this is why I say to certain questions, like, man, don’t ask me, because I’m a celebrity, what do I think about this or what do I think about that. I have no authority. Don’t ask me.
