Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron arrived under the impressive glass roof of the Paris department store La Samaritaine, which was finally reopening its doors after 16 years and €750 million of renovations, on June 21, 2021. The visit was kept secret until the last moment. Invited by the store's new owner, LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault, President Macron said he was proud to inaugurate this "treasure of heritage," to the applause of the 800 employees standing on the building's distinctive double staircase, restored in gold leaf.

It was the first time a sitting French president had attended the opening of a department store. The new incarnation of this Art Nouveau-Art Deco blend architectural jewel is a temple of luxury, playing host to 600 prestige brands, a five-star hotel and a gourmet restaurant, all geared more to wealthy tourists than Parisians. "The LVMH group is an example of French genius," said the president, as he strolled with the billionaire among the high-end handbags.

Since becoming president, Macron has been happy to appear alongside his "dear Bernard," who vies for the position of the world's richest man with Elon Musk. "Is it the place of the president of the Republic, guarantor of the general interest, to go and inaugurate a department store?" said Nicolas Sarkozy's former special adviser Henri Guaino, who is not alone in asking the question. Few other big bosses have been given such consideration. Arnault's eternal rival François Pinault, whose intimacy with President Jacques Chirac was put forward in defense of the closeness between Arnault and Macron, did not have the honor of welcoming the head of state for the inauguration of his art collection at Paris's former Bourse de Commerce, in 2021.

Forged when Macron was deputy secretary-general of the Elysée, their ties have been strengthened by their wives, who crossed paths at Franklin, the chic Jesuit high school in western Paris, where Brigitte taught two of the five Arnault children, Frédéric and Jean. In 2017, Arnault endorsed Macron, and has been defending him ever since. "He's an outstanding personality," he told Le Monde. "His economic orientation is in line with what I think is good for France." While in 2018, Pinault said that "Macron doesn't understand the little people," Arnault thinks "quite the opposite." When Arnault sees Macron on TV "walking around France like that, being criticized, keeping his cool and responding," he finds him "extraordinary," he said.

'A state within a state'

Brigitte Macron is also very close to Delphine Arnault, daughter of Bernard and partner of Xavier Niel (an individual shareholder in Le Monde). As vice president of Louis Vuitton, Delphine has rejuvenated Brigitte's style and regularly invites her to the brand's shows. On the evening of her husband's victory, May 7, 2017, she wore a navy coat with a silver collar designed by Louis Vuitton. "We're very proud to dress the First Lady," Bernard Arnault enthused to his shareholders.

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