The London Lounge

Gentlemen,

It is my feeling that this once famous shoemaker went commercial after been taken over by LVMH. Do you share my feeling? Had anyone a recent experience with Berluti?

Cordialemente,

Paul

Berluti bought out Delos to bring him on board a few years ago. I tried getting an appointment with Delos but got the run around. Apparently they are quite protective of him. I heard it took Hugo Jacomet quite a while to convince Berluti to get the interview with Parisian Gentlemen. If you are able to work with Delos I'd be interested in the results. I've given up.

Of course LVMH will commercialize it to the nth degree. They have started selling menswear, which gives you an idea of where they are at as a shoemaker.

My experience with visiting Berluti shops now is the same as most other 'high-end' shops, emotion-less sales people who don't know much about their products or clientele. I always find it interesting that they want to tell you the brand's story from the get go, and they will proceed to recite what they have been told. I had this same experience at Corthay, but I told the sales, I bought Corthay shoes six years ago, so I know the story. She was very surprised simply because she only heard of Corthay when she started working there.

I have never been too fond of Berluti's style, and I am a LVMH shareholder, so I don't mind it too much. However, if LVMH bought out my favourite tailoring house, shoemaker, shirtmaker etc, I'll be worried and sad.

hsw9001 wrote:I tried getting an appointment with Delos but got the run around. Apparently they are quite protective of him. I heard it took Hugo Jacomet quite a while to convince Berluti to get the interview with Parisian Gentlemen.

It might be the other way round, Berluti (LVMH) is not protective of Delos, but of the Maison Berluti. LVMH has no interest in promoting a star who might outshine the house. Employees come and go and usually clients do not know, or are interested, in the names of the people who work on a their project. It is to the house that, hopefully, the client would give his loyalty to, not to the individual craftsman. Of course it does happen that a client will stay loyal to his cutter/shoemaker and will follow him when he changes employer or starts out on his own. But from the perspective of the house, that certainly is not something that should be encouraged.

As far as Berluti is concerned, Delos is just another employee, he is not even head of the bespoke section, which is, as far as I know, still Patrice Rock (hardly a household name, not even in the world of the specialised forums). Until a couple of years ago, the person promoted by the LVMH PR machinery was Madame Olga "our shoes get bleached by the moon light". But it appears, Olga has been sent into retirement and the voice of Berluti and the person giving all the interviews is now Antoine Arnault, He has been given Berluti as his personal fiefdom and is expected to turn it into a huge success.

In this quest, Delos (the man) is nothing but an irrelevance.

Rolf

bengal-stripe wrote: In this quest, Delos (the man) is nothing but an irrelevance.

Rolf

Dear Rolf,

well put. As irrelevant Mr Delos may be for the clients the company is targeting, as irrelevant Berluti has become for a lover of the craft.

Cheers, David

...where would the strange world of digital men's style forums be without bengal-stripe? I shudder at the thought alone.

True.
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