Françoise Montenay Photo : Karl Lagerfeld

PARIS, 2 April 2009 (AFP) – The president of the supervisory board for Chanel SAS, Françoise Montenay, stated her belief on Thursday 2 April that “bold and beautiful work” is the most appropriate response to the current crisis that it was not prepared for.

“My comment regarding the crisis; bold and beautiful work”, declared Mrs Montenay during a press conference organised by The Fashion Group Paris, a forum for discussion between fashion professionals. “If we offer women what they already have, they won’t buy it” she explained, deploring the “timidity” of some brands.

Mrs Montenay is also president of Comité Colbert which manages seventy French luxury brands. She postulated that, “the best of the best luxury brands will survive” but “faux luxury brands will come a cropper”.

“Nothing was predicted. We all said at some point that those +10, +15, +20°% increases in turnover for luxury brands ‘were going to stop’. But the luxury industry wasn’t expecting the crisis,” she added.

“A certain number of luxury groups have stopped all of their investments, that’s the worst possible mistake to make,” she opined.

According to Mrs Montenay, a positive result of the crisis is that “we are regaining control over what we make”. “Items previously made in China will now be made in France.”