When it comes to the fashion industry, no family is as powerful as the Arnaults, whose patriarch, Bernard Arnault, is the second wealthiest man in the world after Jeff Bezos, as per Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires List at the time of writing. The family controls Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy (LVMH), a luxury goods conglomerate present in the fashion, perfumes and cosmetics, wines and spirits, and watches and jewellery industries, among others.
While the multibillion-dollar conglomerate is still helmed by Bernard, he gets plenty of help from his family, among them daughter Delphine Arnault, who currently sits on the executive committee of LVMH and is one of two heirs-apparent (the other being her younger brother Antoine) to LVMH.
So what do we know about the luxury heiress?
She was a consultant for McKinsey & Co and worked for John Galliano
Delphine, 46, graduated from the prominent EDHEC Business School in Lille, France, and the London School of Economics. Before taking on a role in the family business, she worked for two years at international consulting firm McKinsey & Co in Paris.
On joining LVMH she took on a development director role under designer John Galliano. After one year, she was appointed as deputy managing director of Christian Dior Couture.
She has a knack for spotting talent
In the industry, Delphine is seen as a nurturer of new talent, with a knack for discovering and recruiting designers. Many of those she’s discovered have gone on to become big names themselves, including Raf Simmons (now co-creative director of Prada) and Nicolas Ghesquière (artistic director of Louis Vuitton).
It was also Delphine who was responsible for the discovery of Marine Serre, the up-and-coming designer now popular among celebrities such as
She started the LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers
In 2014, Delphine launched the LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers, a competition with a 300,000 euro (US$211,000) prize and the chance to get mentored by a dedicated LVMH team for one year.
“We had been thinking about doing it for a long time. We think that as the leader of our industry it’s our responsibility to find young talents and to help them grow. That’s the spirit of the prize … It’s something only LVMH can do, to have all these amazing designers who work for LVMH give their opinion and their point of view on the future designers,” she told Surface.
She was once married; she now has a daughter with Xavier Niel
In 2005, Delphine married Italian wine heir Alessandro Vallarino Gancia in one of Europe’s most lavish weddings. The couple reportedly spent US$7 million on their wedding, which was held at the Cathédrale Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Bazas, a French national monument and Unesco World Heritage Site. The reception was held at the Chateau d’Yquem vineyard in Bordeaux, decorated with over 5,000 white roses.
Unfortunately, the marriage did not last and the couple divorced in 2010.
Delphine is now with French billionaire and technology entrepreneur Xavier Niel, who founded French telecommunication group Iliad SA. The couple share a child together, Elisa Niel.
This article originally appeared on South China Morning Post.
