‘Saint-Tropez Has Become LVMH Ville’: Locals Slam Super-rich ‘Takeover’

THE GUARDIAN: The annual influx of billionaires is leading to ‘odious’ practices in the French Riviera town

Local people say the annual summer influx of the global super-rich is becoming too much. Photograph: Dragos Cosmin photos/Getty
It’s probably the world’s only fishing village where it’s easier to buy a €25,000 “mini” Celine handbag, a €4,000 Christian Dior trench or a €2,000 Rimowa suitcase than it is to pick up a rod and tackle.

Ever since Brigitte Bardot started cavorting on its beaches in the 1950s, Saint-Tropez has been better known as a place to catch a glimpse of a celebrity than a fresh sea bass. But now longsuffering locals are warning that the annual influx of the global super-rich is becoming too much – even for them.

“Independent restaurants, hotels and cafes are all being bought by luxury groups,” says Vérane Guérin, a municipal councillor. “It’s becoming not Saint-Tropez, but LVMH Ville.”

LVMH, the luxury goods company founded and run by Europe’s richest person, Bernard Arnault, owns the town’s Celine, Dior and Rimowa stores as well outlets for several of its other brands, including Fendi and Loewe. The conglomerate, whose official name is LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, also owns two of the town’s fanciest hotels: the Cheval Blanc and the White 1921.

There are LVMH restaurants serving its Moët & Chandon champagne, a Dior cafe, and even “LV by the Pool” – a beach club with branded sun loungers and parasols. » | Rupert Neate in Saint-Tropez | Friday, September 29, 2023

The Côte d’Azur : Love, Luxury, Passion

May 11, 2022 • The Côte d'Azur stands for glamour and luxury, for film festivals and stars, for yachts and villas. The most famous personalities of the last century met here. The Côte owes its unique mythos to their loves and passions.

The Côte d'Azur boasts a breathtakingly gorgeous landscape. But its mythos is more than the sum of it beautiful parts. The whole world associates the narrow coastal strip on the French Mediterranean coast with sun, stars and scandals.

In Saint Tropez, a former fishing town, a new and newly sensual art of living was popularized thanks to the young Brigitte Bardot. On the eastern part of the coast, Oscar winner Grace Kelly conquered the principality of Monaco with her marriage to Prince Rainier. The matchmaker? The Greek shipowner Aristotle Onassis, who wanted to burnish the dwarf state’s image.

One of the most glamorous film festivals in the world was established in Cannes. After that, it seemed everyone came to the Côte. At the Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes, the paths of the famous crossed again and again. For 150 years the hotel has been home to artists, queens and kings, divas and stars. Since 1969, the hotel has been owned by the German industrialist family Oetker. Maja Oetker describes her personal memories of the past 50 years.

To this day, the Côte d'Azur has lost none of its appeal. It is more than just a place: it is an entire mythos.

Aufregung über Sonderwünsche: König Salman bricht Frankreich-Urlaub ab

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Eigentlich hatte König Salman drei Wochen an der Côte d'Azur entspannen wollen - doch nun ist Saudi-Arabiens Herrscher schon nach acht Tagen abgereist. 150.000 Menschen hatten zuvor eine Petition gegen die Sonderwünsche des Monarchen unterschrieben.

Die französische Mittelmeergemeinde Vallauris hatte alles unternommen, um dem betuchten Urlauber den Aufenthalt so angenehm wie möglich zu machen: Der etwa ein Kilometer lange Mirandole-Strand wurde für die Öffentlichkeit gesperrt, ein illegal errichteter Aufzug von der Villa zum Meer nachträglich genehmigt.

Drei Wochen wollte Saudi-Arabiens König Salman in seinem Anwesen an der Côte d'Azur verbringen. Doch nun ist der 79-Jährige schon nach acht Tagen abgereist und ins marokkanische Tanger weitergeflogen. … » | syd/AFP/Reuters | Montag, 3. August 2015

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