An intimate breakfast at the Hôtel de Crillon in Paris this week brought together an extraordinary concentration of luxury leadership. Executives from LVMH, Puig, Cartier, Balmain, Kering, and Alaïa joined The Business of Fashion for an exclusive morning session unpacking the growth strategies that will define luxury’s post-slowdown era — the first gathering of its kind since the industry-wide recalibration that began in late 2024.
The guest list itself was a barometer of the shifting power dynamics within luxury. Puig’s presence, coming after the Spanish beauty and fashion group’s aggressive expansion into designer licences, signalled its growing influence in the prestige fragrance and fashion space. Alaïa, independent and quietly resurgent under the creative directorship of Pieter Mulier, offered a counterpoint to the conglomerate-heavy narrative.
A key takeaway from the session was the growing consensus that luxury brands must differentiate more aggressively between their core clients — the top 2 percent who account for 40 percent of revenue at many houses — and the broader, more price-sensitive audience that was courted during the post-pandemic boom. The strategies for each cohort diverge: ultra-personalisation and scarcity for the former; accessible entry points and digital engagement for the latter.
The Crillon breakfast signals that luxury leaders are moving from a defensive posture to an offensive one. After two years of inventory correction, organisational restructuring, and cautious outlooks, the mood in Paris has shifted toward measured optimism — not the exuberance of 2021-2023 but a grounded sense that the sector has found its footing and is ready to write its next chapter.
