Why did Karl Lagerfeld visit the European Commission? He wants our money. Photo: EBS
Today, Chanel art director Karl Lagerfeld visited Neelie Kroes, the European commissioner for competition. There is a short film available where you can see how Karl’s voiture enters the EU premises, where Karl walks along office corridors, where he and Neelie pose for press pictures and talk about ice-skating (Neelie: „You shouldn’t do that at my age.“ Karl: „Don’t say that!“), and then they sit down at a table.
And that’s it. Great job, EBS. We do not really know what stylish Karl said to her. So I tried to find out. Apparently, they wanted to talk about dealing luxury articles on the internet. 33 percent of Europeans have bought products on the internet (Eurobarometer 298), so this group of consumers is quite a relevant one. Chanel and Louis Vuitton/ Moët Hennessy are supporting rules that forbid the trading of their brands via internet platforms. Kroes - as well as Ebay - are against these rules, as they don’t allow consumers to buy certain products to good prices and as they prevent competition. For example, at the moment, digital cameras have a price difference from 30 percent in Europe. In order to allow every consumer to buy a best-price-procuct and to make comparison possible, the EC wants to publish yearly consumer market scoreboards (I have linked the first one, from 2008, with interesting findings about food prices. In oil-producing countries, for example, like Italy, Cyprus or Greece, oil is more expensive than in other EU member states; and in countries close to the sea, like the Netherlands or Germany, fish is more expensive than one might think).
I have to admit, that it is much more interesting for me to see that Karl Lagerfeld is lobbying in the EU than to just look at a Eurobarometer survey or price lists. Even if I might give the impression of being a fashion addict, I would like to raise your attention to Karl’s outfit. Could the coin tangling on his necklace be a euro? Or doesn’t it rather look like a huge medieval silver medal? The question then is: How can we make the euro THE new luxury article in an economy shaken by the financial crisis? Consumers who buy relevant products to reasonable prices can. So go ahead and grab some fish from your regional market.
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Today, the EU observer reports on Karl Lagerfeld’s visit: http://euobserver.com/9/27592