Fashion
France’s richest man, LVMH’s Arnault, slams proposed billionaire tax
By
Reuters
Published
September 21, 2025
Bernard Arnault, the boss of luxury goods group LVMH and France’s richest man, has attacked a proposed 2% tax on billionaires as an assault on France’s economy and denounced the plan’s architect as a far-left ideologue.
The tax, which would target wealth above 100 million euros ($117 million), has gained political traction in France, where Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu faces pressure from the Socialist Party to include it in the 2026 budget or face a confidence vote that could topple his government.
“This is clearly not a technical or economic debate, but rather a clearly stated desire to destroy the French economy,” Arnault told Britain’s Sunday Times.
He accused the plan’s architect, economist Gabriel Zucman of being “first and foremost a far-left activist” who uses “pseudo-academic competence” to promote an ideology aimed at dismantling the liberal economic system, which Arnault described as “the only one that works for the good of all”.
Zucman, a professor at France’s École Normale Supérieure and the University of California, Berkeley, rejected the accusations.
“I’ve never been an activist for any movement or party,” he said on X, adding his work was grounded in research, not ideology.
Zucman was among 300 economists who publicly backed the economic platform of the left-wing Nouveau Front Populaire alliance ahead of last year’s legislative elections.
He has recently argued in media appearances that the ultra-rich pay proportionally less tax than many other citizens — a gap the proposed levy aims to close.
The tax has broad public support, with an Ifop poll commissioned by the Socialist Party this month showing 86% approval.
© Thomson Reuters 2025 All rights reserved.
Published
September 21, 2025
London Fashion Week went hyper experimental this Sunday, with surrealist couture from Erdem, disgruntled debutantes at Simone Rocha, conceptual picnics Kent & Curwen, and full-on ergonomic sporty chic at Johanna Parv.
Erdem: Surrealist chic
No designer can boast of more unlikely muses than Erdem Moralioglu, whose wellspring this season was a wantonly obscure surrealist artist named Hélène Smith.
Though that very obscurity helped inspire another great collection from Erdem. Bloomsbury couture at its best.
Catherine-Elise Muller, know artistically as Hélène Smith, was the dubbed the “muse of automatic writing” by the early Surrealists over a century ago. Copies of those texts were embroidered on lace chess piece sheaths densely embroidered with fabric petals and flowers, or on superb starch tulle corset cocktail or moulded bustier dresses.
Smith’s other claim to fame was her belief that she was a medium, able to communicate with the deceased Victor Hugo or Cagliostro. She also believed that through trances she had voyaged to the court of Versailles, Rajasthan and even Mars.
The Versailles cycle represented by high lace-collared gowns and shirts or structured paniers riffing on Marie Antoinette. While her imagined sojourn in India mangled with her space trip in neon crushed embroidered linen sculpted dresses, worn on the cast marching in courtesan ribboned shoes.
A selection of mannish blazers and striped double-breasted jackets were in turn inspired by psychologist Théodore Flournoy, who published a book on her voyages entitled, “From India to the Planet Mars”.
Smith ended up dying in complete obscurity, but this Sunday in a magnificent show under the columns of the British Museum she galvanized a moment of fashion glory.
Simone Rocha: Disgruntled debutantes
The afternoon led us to the Mansion House in the City of London, an apt location for the theme of Rocha’s highly experimental – even by her standards – collection.
A long show – by London standards – of 52 looks, most of whom jumbled up epochs and eras in an occasionally disconcerting, though oft times, beautiful manner.
For next spring, Rocha loves sateen georgette, floral jacquards and silk organzas, cutting them into crinolines, Venetian tailcoats or hoop skirts. Before promptly covering many of these very looks in transparent plastic coats and trenches, finished in confetti prints.
“Disgruntled debutantes… A young woman forced to wear her mother’s clothes,” was the Irish designer’s definition of this spring/summer 2026 collection.
That was apparent in the opening looks: a refined organza crinoline embroidered with tiny flowers, combined rebelliously with a silver sequin bra with black lace trim. Then followed up by an oversized trapeze dress over which was plastered too huge fabric flowers.
“I really wanted to push a button when it came to my fundamental codes,” added Simone, referencing the crinolines exposed through semi sheer organza. Before adding a soupçon of perversity by covering many dresses with mini corsets.
Revealing that when it came to her own mother’s wardrobe, Simone would wear her skirts as dresses pulled up high, the better to expose shoes. A vital part of Simone Rocha’s business, which this season featured platforms with Georgian moulding or Perspex escarpins.
Her women’s clothes were deliberately not too ladylike, with lots of exposed underwear. But her menswear was positively foppish: scarlet red jacquard cloaks worn with trumpet lilies, or a ruffled soutane seen on a model carrying a ruffled satin pillow.
All driven on by a great soundtrack by Frederic Sanchez that included chunks of Marianne Faithfull with the Prague Philharmonic and the demonic sounds of “King Night” by Salem.
No one could fault Simone for not taking risks in this performance, which won her a huge cheer and prolonged applause when she took a smiling bow.
Kent & Curwen: The united parks of London
A distinctive change of gear and tone at Kent & Curwen, where designer Daniel Kearns lightened mood and materials, even as he kept a tight focus on the brand’s three lions logo and DNA.
Nice also to see an artfully produced show by producer Robin Scott-Lawson, where a set of ten 10X20 foot LED screens projected images of multiple London parks featuring kids at play, football games, boat trips and splendid giant plane trees. Guests even received smart striped blankets – ideal for a picnic on Sunday, in a sunbathed UK capital.
An ideal backdrop to the clothes. They blended haute-couture fabrics like jacquard and chiffon with techy nylons, so the clothes managed to operate on multiple levels. Creating an agreeably conceptual take on such a storied brand as Kent & Curwen.
Draping a fab short tennis dress or a superb ivory coat dress, where a blazer met a plissé chiffon skirt. Dreaming up white multi-petal swimsuits for girls, and shirts for guys in this co-ed show. Going positively Japanese with chiffon minis topped by feathered bra tops.
Before returning to the brand’s roots in bold graphic rugby colors used in pink and blue trench coats. And respecting its English roots with some great sweaters embroidered with fabric roses, and a bravura finale of Photoshop English floral pants and tops for Kearns most investigational collection for this house.
Johanna Parv: Sports, fashion, action
All-action women at Johanna Parv, where the cast dashed about the catwalk in her bold and brilliant vision of transformative sporty chic.
Using techy fabrics, Parv creates clothes that manage to be sporty, yet professional. Protective yet chic. Practical in changing weather conditions, yet sleek and stylish. Plausible from a bike ride to board room.
Kicking off the action with gym exits – taut shirts and tops, dissected with her action bags. Followed by impeccable sporty jerkins and pants cut diagonally at the ankle to suggest speed. Clever use of angled zips and ties made the clothes look and be multi-functional.
The result was a collection that reinforced women’s independence via fashion. From the updated sheriff’s dusters in anthracite to the charcoal nylon track jackets, blousons and culottes. Also including her a hybrid bags, worn sometimes as backpack, other times as ergonomic fanny pack, and even as wrap around messenger bag, attachable to a bicycle frame. Hence its name – ‘Frame‘. All of them looked cool.
“Johanna Parv brings out the inner Lime rider in us all,” commented insightfully BFC CEO Laura Weir.
In her program notes, the Estonia-born designer referenced reading “Streetwalking the Metropolis” by Deborah L Parsons – a famed study of female writers’ experiences and perceptions of negotiating the urban landscape. This collection seems ideal for today’s urban jungle.
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Alongside it, the upgraded SWG-XR Wholegarment machine—successor to the SWG-X—will demonstrate higher productivity and expanded patterning capabilities, while the new SDS KnitPaint-Online software offers global knit programming solutions.
Since its founding in ****, Shima Seiki has led the knitting industry with over *,*** patents, pioneering whole garment technology and digital textile innovations that help brands, designers, and manufacturers create sustainable, efficient, and high-quality products.
On the other hand, the very backbone of the country’s apparel export ecosystem—its banking system—has been exhibiting severe structural failures, paralysing operations, and threatening future growth prospects.
Bangladesh apparel industry is reportedly facing a liquidity crunch due to banking failures at a time when shifting orders are expected to benefit the country.
The sector’s heavy reliance on back-to-back LCs has turned risky, as local banks struggled to honour or issue new LCs.
Exporters warned delayed payments and financing risks might hit Bangladesh’s image while also eroding its competitive gains.
With Western retailers increasingly seeking alternatives to Chinese suppliers amid geopolitical and cost considerations, Bangladesh has emerged as a key beneficiary. Reports of order diversions from China and even India were already fuelling optimism across the textile-exporting community.
However, just as factories began preparing to absorb the expected surge in orders, the sector was blindsided by a systemic banking failure—one that has reportedly affected production in around 400 garment manufacturing units recently.
The crisis is rooted in the sector’s heavy reliance on Letters of Credit (LCs) for procurement and production continuity.
Typically, in export-based business models, foreign buyers open LCs through internationally recognised banks, ensuring payment to the supplier upon shipment. Bangladeshi exporters, however, operate within a more constrained framework. They commonly utilise back-to-back LCs provided by local banks to finance the procurement of raw materials. These back-to-back LCs are settled once export proceeds are realised.
The model worked efficiently—until liquidity dried up.
Reports indicate banking problems escalated sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic period. Since then, a cascading series of alleged financial missteps, rising non-performing loans (NPLs), and widespread governance issues have only deepened the cracks, as per reports.
Exporters have complained that even when export dollars are repatriated into the country, banks have been delaying or withholding the disbursement of funds. This has not only hindered the settlement of back-to-back LCs but has also jeopardised the ability of factories to pay worker wages—a particularly sensitive issue in Bangladesh, where the RMG sector directly employs over four million people and indirectly supports the livelihoods of many more.
According to data from the central bank—Bangladesh Bank—non-performing loans in the country’s banking sector reportedly jumped by Taka 74,570 crore in the January–March 2025 quarter, pushing the cumulative figure beyond Taka 4.20 lakh crore.
Several financial institutions are reportedly teetering under the weight of these bad loans, many of which are the result of alleged politically backed fraudulent lending practices and regulatory inertia.
Among the most vulnerable are five Islamic banks, facing critical liquidity shortages.
Recognising the systemic risk, the Bangladesh Bank has now proposed a merger of these five crisis-hit Islamic banks into a single entity—‘United Islami Bank.’ With the approval of the interim government, the central bank has reportedly pledged a capital infusion of Taka 20,200 crore to stabilise the merged institution.
This restructuring, though vital, may take time to translate into functional liquidity relief for the export sector, especially given the urgent cash flow needs of factories already struggling to stay operational.
In the meantime, industry representatives have been lobbying hard for immediate intervention. A BGMEA delegation, led by its president, met with the governor of the Bangladesh Bank to raise urgent concerns about the banking bottleneck. During the meeting, the BGMEA highlighted the inability of multiple banks to release repatriated export proceeds or issue new LCs—both of which are essential for maintaining production cycles and meeting international shipment deadlines.
According to reports, the BGMEA president made it clear that these delays are not just hurting domestic business continuity but are also inflicting reputational damage on Bangladesh’s credibility in the global arena.
In an industry where timeliness and trust are paramount, any perception of systemic risk—particularly around payment and financing—can result in order migration to more stable sourcing destinations.
That a sector contributing about 85 per cent of the country’s export revenues and powering nearly four million direct jobs finds itself at the mercy of banking dysfunction signals a deep policy failure, feels many.
The government, aware of the criticality of the situation, started taking steps to provide liquidity support, if reports are to be believed.
On September 4, the BGMEA issued a statement confirming that Bangladesh Bank had released Taka 886 crore in export proceeds via two distressed banks—Exim Bank and Social Islami Bank Ltd (SIBL). The disbursement has reportedly enabled nearly 250 garment factories to pay workers’ wages and allowances for August and September.
While such temporary injections could provide some breathing space, such measures are far from being a sustainable solution.
Compounding the challenge is the psychological effect the crisis is having on foreign buyers and financial markets. Order volumes and investment flows, after all, are heavily influenced by perceptions of political and financial stability.
So, even if the US imposed a somewhat favourable 20 per cent tariff on Bangladeshi goods, effective from August 7, the banking turmoil could end up eroding those competitive gains. If international buyers begin to question the reliability quotient, especially due to financial transaction risks, the consequences could be long-lasting.
The scenario unfolding at a time when many global brands are actively diversifying their sourcing bases, Bangladesh has an open runway to seize a larger share of the global apparel export pie, but for the liquidity crisis, which many fear, could become a roadblock to capitalising on the opportunities on offer.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DR)
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