In what may be his last tour of duty to the Philippines, Louis Vuitton Malletier chairman and chief executive Yves Carcelle swung by Manila for a few hours Thursday en route to a store opening in Sydney, Australia.
The genial Frenchman, who led Louis Vuitton into a global luxury behemoth since he took its helm in 1990, will step down from his post in 2014, to take on a new role in the company.
Carcelle, 63, will become president of Fondation Louis Vuitton, which is building a Frank Gehry-designed museum in Paris, France.
The chief executive’s last Manila visit was in 2003, at the boutique’s previous location in 6750 Ayala. Louis Vuitton moved to Greenbelt 4 in 2004.
Carcelle briefly met with its business partners, select media executives and local artists at the Louis Vuitton boutique in Greenbelt 4, Makati City. The newly expanded store, which underwent a 15-month renovation, reopened in October. The selling space has more than doubled, from 175 square meters, to 402 square meters, and now includes a private salon for top clients, a feature included only in select boutiques. The Philippines is among the Top 30 markets of Louis Vuitton.
Jean-Baptiste Debains, president of Louis Vuitton Asia Pacific, and Edouard Faure, general manager of Louis Vuitton for Micronesia and the Philippines, assisted Carcelle and Rhea de Vera-Aguirre, country manager of Louis Vuitton Philippines, in welcoming guests that included Ayala Land president Antonino Aquino, Ayala Land executive vice president Bobby Dy, and Ayala Land VP and head of operations Rowena Tomeldan.
The guest list also included sculptor Ed Castrillo, Galeria Duemila’s Silvana Diaz, and artist Gary-Ross Pastrana, whose work is currently on exhibit at the Louis Vuitton Island in Singapore.
There were also guests from the French embassy, as well as anti-counterfeiting law enforcement officials.
Carcelle joined Louis Vuitton in 1989 as strategic director. He was named chair and CEO the following year. In 1997, Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy (LVMH) chair Bernard Arnault hired the American designer Marc Jacobs to become the house’s creative director. It proved to be a good choice: With a star designer, Carcelle grew Louis Vuitton into the most successful and profitable global luxury brand.
LVMH, the world’s largest luxury conglomerate, which owns Louis Vuitton, announced Jondi Constans, a Spanish senior executive at the French yogurt company Danone, will replace Carcelle.
The shake-up comes amid rumors that Jacobs is moving to Dior, also LVMH-owned, which was left without a head designer following John Galliano’s sacking for alleged racist rant in a Paris café early this year.
When asked if Thursday was indeed his last visit to Manila as Louis Vuitton’s CEO, Carcelle
made light of his departure from his decade-long post.
“No, I’ll be back,” he said.
